


These Things Take Time

by watery_melon_baller



Series: Terrifying Ghost Form AU [2]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Ace Danny, An absolutely bizzare frankenstein of angst and fluff, Angst, Blanket Permission, Blob ghosts, Fear, Fentonworks, Friendship, Gen, Gets less angsty as it grows, Ghosts, Giving Danny trauma hours, Hurt/Comfort, I take Tucker's fear of hospitals and run with it, I'm a touchstarved gay so the characters are too, It's the mood whiplash :), Poor Danny is having a terrible time, SAM AND TUCKER ARE GOOD FRIENDS, So are Tucker and Sam, The Ghost Portal, The portal accident, at least for now, pov tucker foley
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:55:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 33,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28333470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watery_melon_baller/pseuds/watery_melon_baller
Summary: He saw the ghost sitting on the bed, right in the place Danny had been. A choked scream issued from Sam, who had leapt back in the opposite direction from Tucker.The ghost looked around, its eyes moving to Sam, and then Tucker. When its terrifying green gaze met Tucker’s, his mind screamed Danger, Danger, RUN. It was all Tucker could do to stay still. If he ran now, the monster might lash out.“It’s me!”, the ghost cried, little green-glowing droplets beginning to well up in its wrong, oh so wrong glowing eyes.(AU in which Danny's ghost form is incredibly creepy, off-putting, and fear-inducing to everyone despite the fact that it looks exactly the same as in the show, and it's literally impossible to recognize him in it.)
Relationships: Danny Fenton & Sam Manson, Danny Fenton & Tucker Foley, Danny Fenton & Tucker Foley & Sam Manson, Tucker Foley & Sam Manson
Series: Terrifying Ghost Form AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2074926
Comments: 137
Kudos: 282





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I cannot just let things lie, so have this lovely mess. The way I've decided to do this is leave the original work as a oneshot, as it can be perfectly enjoyed in that fashion, and put my direct continuation into a separate work. That being said, this is a direct continuation that picks up right where "Of Course He Was Okay" left off, so reading that is pretty necessary to understanding this. It's pretty much the first chapter to what has become a rather large multichapter story (it can be found as the first part of the series, and this will make infinitely more sense with such context). Thanks for bearing with me on this.  
> The way I write the trio is hugely influenced by how they're written in CrzyFun's fic Doppelgänger. You should check them out!

Tucker, Sam, and Danny all sat in Danny’s room. They’d left the lab after Tucker had spoken up about how cold it was. He left out the part about the fear imparted in him by the portal, looming at the other end of the room. Sam had agreed about the cold. Danny hadn’t said anything. 

Danny had seemed so full of fear. Tucker was still scared to let him go. He didn’t want to lose him again, and was terrified the ghost might come back, much as he tried to smash the fear down. Danny had slipped the jumpsuit off, and they’d settled sitting together on the bed, all next to each other. Sam sat close on Danny’s other side, her hand gripping Danny’s. 

None of them spoke. 

Slowly their tears dried up, and all three sets of breathing evened out as the three friends drew comfort from each other’s presence. Everything was okay now, Tucker told himself. Danny was here, alive and breathing and uninjured. The ghost was gone. They were all together. The ghost _wasn’t_ coming back. 

Sam, as usual, was the first to speak. “What _happened_ to you, Danny?” Her lip trembled, and Tucker could tell tears were threatening to spill again. 

Danny took a sharp breath and began to shake, shrinking in on himself. “I…” He paused. “You…” He shook his head. “Nothing.” His voice ended on a whisper. 

Tucker moved his hand to Danny’s. “Dude, you can tell us”, he said softly. “It’s ok. We’re here for you.” 

Danny seemed to pull back at this statement, and the slight speed-up of his breath didn’t escape Tucker’s notice. 

“We can’t help you if we don’t know what’s wrong”, Sam prodded. 

Danny’s grip on both his friends’ hands tightened. Tucker gave a squeeze back, hoping it would reassure Danny. He didn’t like seeing his friend upset like this, but at the same time was at a loss as to how to help. He was a bit of an emotional wreck himself at the moment, after the whole soulshaking-fear-inducing-ghost thing, coupled with the Danny-had-been-gone thing. Besides, he’d never been the best with emotions. He was the techno-geek who coped with his problems through humor, not heart-to-hearts. If he was being honest, it was Danny who had really handled all that emotional stuff the best out of all of them. 

But now, he needed their support, and Tucker resolved to do everything he could to help. 

Danny stared down at the ground for another long moment. Finally he spoke, his voice barely a whisper. “You guys were looking at me like you were scared of me.” 

Tucker couldn’t help the little peak of confusion in his mind. “You weren’t there”, he said. 

“Yeah…”, Sam picked the thought up. “You went into the portal…” She trailed off at this with a trembling breath. “I made you go into the portal. Oh, Danny, I’m so sorry!” Tears began to trail down her cheeks again. 

“Sam, it’s not your fault”, Danny told her forcefully, turning to look into her violet eyes. “But…” he turned his head to look at Tucker, and then back to Sam. “I was there, the whole time!” 

Tucker hissed out a breath, his mind turning over the different pieces of the story. “Danny, how do you remember it?”

Danny shuddered. “W-well… when I leaned against the wall, I think I hit some sort of button, or switch. And then there was a… _lot_ of pain. I felt like it would never end. But then it did, and I fell down, and I could hear your voices so I got up. There was a lot of smoke, and it was super bright so I couldn’t see much. I called back to you, I wanted to let you know I was alright… sort of. You didn’t seem to understand or hear me properly or something, so I walked out, but then…” Danny stopped. “You guys, you were looking at me like I was a stranger. Like you were scared of me.” A pained noise escaped Danny’s mouth. Tucker gave his hand a small squeeze. “Then I fell through the floor, and my hair was white, but you both ran away from me. You looked so scared, and I didn’t know what was happening, and-” Danny’s breathing quickened with each word, voice rising anxiously. He stopped and took a deep breath, leaning into Sam and gripping Tucker’s hand harder. 

“Take as much time as you need”, Tucker offered. Sam nodded affirmingly, her tears now slowing. 

Danny took a moment, then with a deep breath continued his account. “After you guys ran away I didn’t know what to do. Weird things were happening to me- I was floating and then I couldn’t see my body but then I could again and I kept falling through the floor and walls and it was just… really freaking me out, so I managed to make my way over to the bathroom. But when I looked in the mirror… there was something wrong. I didn’t look like me, and my hair was the wrong color and I was glowing and my eyes were green and…” Danny stopped, and he looked between Tucker and Sam. “Wait… was that why you were scared of me?” 

Tucker was about to reply when their conversation was interrupted by a flash. Tucker pulled back in shock, crashing against a bedpost. 

The fear returned. Dread shot through Tucker with terrifying strength. _No no no_ , he thought. _It couldn’t be, no-_

But when he looked up, he saw the ghost sitting on the bed, right in the place Danny had been. A choked scream issued from Sam, who had leapt back in the opposite direction from Tucker. 

The ghost looked around, its eyes moving to Sam, and then Tucker. When its terrifying green gaze met Tucker’s, his mind screamed _Danger, Danger, RUN_. It was all Tucker could do to stay still. If he ran now, the monster might lash out. 

“What just...”, the ghost said shakily. Why did it do that, imitating emotions? Why did it have to try to use Tucker’s pity against him, manipulating it? 

Tucker stood frozen, not wanting to set the ghost on a rage. He slowly inched his head to the right, bit by bit, until he could meet Sam’s gaze. They had to use surprise again. They had to run. 

_Where’s Danny?,_ cried a desperate little part of his mind. He shoved it back. He couldn’t help Danny if he broke down and died at the hands of this ghost now. He had to get out. Then he could think about finding (saving?) his friend. 

The ghost’s eyes suddenly widened, and it shot off the bed to hover in the air. It shook as it pulled a lock of hair down into its line of sight, then rapidly turned its hands over in front of it. 

“Oh no-”, it whispered, before turning its gaze back to Sam and Tucker

“Where’s Danny?”, Sam said, eyes stretched fearfully wide. She still managed to put some strength into her voice. That, Tucker could admire; he couldn’t imagine displaying strength under the monster’s direct gaze. 

“It’s me!”, the ghost cried, little green-glowing droplets beginning to well up in its wrong, _oh so wrong_ glowing eyes _._ Why was it lying again? Why did it try to push this farce? It had to know neither of them would believe it. 

Tucker didn’t know how they would get out of this one. They weren’t in a ghost-proofed lab; they couldn’t just trap the ghost like last time. And he had no idea how they could get Danny back to replace the ghost. 

Still, they couldn’t stay here. The longer they were in the ghost’s vicinity, the more likely it was that it would hurt them. He met Sam’s gaze and lifted his foot ever so slightly off the ground. He stayed still another moment, before stomping his foot down hard and taking off running. He hoped Sam followed; he didn’t want to leave his friend alone with the ghost, but he couldn’t look back either; every second counted. He shot out the door and into the hallway, mind whirling as he tried to think of a place they could go where the ghost wouldn’t follow, couldn’t hurt them. 

Sam caught up to him, and met his eye. “The safe room”, she gasped between breaths. Tucker thought back, and remembered Danny having mentioned his parents building a ghost-proof safe room a couple of times. Their obsession with ghosts might be weird, but you couldn’t deny Mr. and Mrs. Fenton were prepared. And at this moment, Tucker was very glad for it. The safe room would be perfect; Tucker wasn’t sure what they would do after getting there, but they could think about that later. Once they were safe. 

They shot down the stairs and into the downstairs hallway, past the weapons vault they passed earlier, and slid to a stop in front of a huge door labeled, of course, the Fenton Safe Room. For the moment, Tucker couldn’t hear the ghost pursuing them. But that didn’t give him any semblance of security. He really didn’t know what it was capable of; it could be stalking them silently, invisibly, just waiting to hurt them. 

“How do we get in?”, Sam asked rapidly. 

“There’s a keypad”, Tucker panted, pointing. 

“Shoot, what’s the code?”, Sam asked. 

“Um…” Tucker scrunched his eyebrows together. “Try Danny’s birthday?” 

Sam’s fingers flew across the keypad, inputting the numbers. But to Tucker’s dismay, it flashed red with a harsh beep. 

“How about Jazz’s birthday?”, Tucker offered, his panic, already at record levels, somehow rising. 

“What’s that?!”

Oh, right. Tucker had known the Fentons longer than she had. They must have mentioned it at some point. It took a moment— _Too long, danger, DANGER_ , his mind screamed— but he was able to recall the number, relaying it to Sam as soon as he did. Tucker could have cried when it worked and the door slid open. He and Sam rushed in. “Close it!”, Sam screeched, and Tucker slammed his palm down on the interior panel. The door slowly slid closed, sealing with a _pop_. 

“Welcome to the Fenton safe room!”, came a recording of Mr. Fenton’s voice, causing both friends to jump back. There was a burst of confetti. It was… certainly on brand. 

Only now did Tucker’s fear begin to lessen, his heartbeat slowing down as his adrenaline-fueled panic left his body. He was safe. Safer, at least. The ghost couldn’t get them in here, at least for the moment. Now, they could finally turn their thoughts to other matters. Like getting Danny back. And getting rid of the ghost. 

For once, it was him who spoke first. “What now?” 

“We can’t go back out there. Not yet, at least”, Sam replied, a contemplative look coming over her face. Tucker looked around, taking in their surroundings. Maybe there was something in here they could use. He wished he had his PDA on him, but it was back in the lab, where he’d set it back before all this. 

The room wasn’t all that remarkable, the style matching the rest of Fentonworks. There was some seating, but more useful, a variety of different devices, undoubtedly of Mr. and Mrs. Fenton’s creation, lining the back wall. 

Tucker was hit with a sudden wave of fatigue. The chase, and all that _fear,_ had worn him out. He looked over and saw Sam looking similarly tired, leaning heavily against the wall behind her. “Maybe we can just sit for a minute”, Tucker said. 

Sam looked like she was about to protest for a moment, but then nodded. “That’s a good idea”, she agreed reluctantly. 

They sunk down into a couple of the chairs, sitting in silence but for their soft breathing. But it wasn’t long before they were abruptly jerked out of their rest by a knocking. Fear shot through Tucker again, somehow knowing it was the ghost. He shook. He was so _tired_ of being afraid. 

Neither Tucker nor Sam moved from where they sat. Maybe if they didn’t move, the ghost wouldn’t know they were here. A little piece of Tucker’s rational mind told him they were safe in this room; it was ghost proof, after all. Still, being so _close_ to the monster made the fear so, so strong again. 

The knocking echoed from the door again. It was surprisingly soft, much softer than Tucker would have expected. Wouldn’t the creature just pound the door instead? It would be much more effective. _Mind games_ , Tucker concluded. _Why does this ghost have to keep being so manipulative?_

The knocking stopped, and then the terrible voice drifted through the door, muffled by the thick metal. It was watery and trembled on every word. The ghost’s tone imitated defeat. “Please… I’m sorry. I don’t know why you guys are so _scared_ of me…” It cracked, and the ghost swallowed before continuing. “It’s me. You know I’d never hurt you! Please, it’s me, Danny, your friend. You’ve known me since we were kids. I know I look a bit different, but you guys must be able to tell it’s me! Tucker, when we were in fourth grade, you got that new game, and it had multiplayer and you couldn’t wait to show me, so you snuck out and we met up that night? We were in so much trouble when our parents caught us.” The ghost let out a dry chuckle. It was grating on Tucker’s ears, painful, a creepy imitation of humanity. The ghost continued. “And Sam, remember when we were in sixth grade, and you begged me for weeks to come to that protest with you? What was it… oh yeah, save the whales! I wasn’t really excited for it, but I agreed, and we went and I actually ended up having a lot of fun.” The ghost paused. This time, it wasn’t a play at pain, but almost reflective, as if looking back on a fond memory. 

Tucker didn’t know how it knew so much about his and Danny’s lives. What it had said about him was accurate; he remembered the incident acutely. It chilled him. What if it had done something to Danny, forced him to give it details? Sam’s expression seemed to indicate that the memory of her was true as well. 

“Guys, it’s just me. It’s _Danny.”_

After that last word, the ghost let out a gasp. There was a thump. Tucker immediately felt something was different. The fog of fear lifted. He looked to Sam with wide eyes. Could it…?

“Guys?”, came a voice, hesitant. It was _Danny’s_ voice. Tucker didn’t pause at all as he pushed off the chair. Sam did so as well, slapping the panel to open the door. They didn’t even wait until the door opened fully, squeezing past it. And there in the hallway, was _Danny._

Tucker had cried a lot today, far more than he cared to admit, but the tears came again as he and Sam both moved to where Danny sat on his knees, looking down at his hands in shock. His lips parted, closed, parted again. “Do you know it's me?”, he asked, blue eyes so unlike the ghost’s cruel green ones moving between Sam and Tucker’s faces. The hint of wariness in his tone hurt Tucker a bit. 

“Danny”, Sam said as answer, moving in to embrace their friend. Tucker followed, and they all huddled together on the floor in the middle of the hall. 

Their embrace was interrupted by the _click_ of a key in a lock and the sound of a door opening, echoing down the quiet hall. Danny shot to his feet. “Shoot, my parents!”, he said. He brought a hand to his mouth. “Oh god, how am I going to explain this to them…” 

“Let’s start by getting up to your room”, Sam said, giving Danny and Tucker a little nudge to get them moving. The three hurried towards the stairs, but not quickly enough as Danny’s parents spotted them.

The trio halted in the middle of the living room. Sam rubbed the back of her neck and began whistling. Danny avoided his parents’ gaze, looking at his shoes. Tucker lifted a hand in an awkward wave. “Oh, hey Mr. and Mrs. F...”, he said, not quite sure what to say. 

“Hey, kids”, Mr. Fenton said, boisterous as ever and seeming not to pick up on anything weird the trio were doing, much to Tucker’s relief. 

“What are you doing down here?”, Mrs. Fenton asked as she shut the door and locked it. The question didn’t hold any suspicion, but nevertheless caught Tucker off guard.

Luckily, Sam jumped in. “We were just… getting some snacks!”, she lied hastily. 

Mrs. Fenton took a look at them, and seeing the what Tucker realized was probably obvious lack of snacks, asked, “... and where are they?”

“We were just getting them?”, Danny squeaked. 

“Nice seeing you!”, Sam finished, before dragging the other two towards the kitchen. 

Tucker pulled the pantry open and quickly grabbed a packet of jerky and some bacon bites. Sam saw this and made her own way over to the cupboard, “At least get _some_ quality food”, she scoffed playfully, grabbing some kale chips. Tucker shook his head. Why did the Fentons even have those? 

After a second, Tucker went back and took a bag of popcorn as well, for Danny. He knew how he didn’t like getting involved in their meat-vegetable debate. Even though Tucker was _obviously_ right. 

They gave Mr. and Mrs. Fenton a passing greeting before hustling back up to Danny’s room. Whatever ghost stuff was happening, Tucker wasn’t sure getting Danny’s parents involved was the best idea. They hadn’t been supposed to be down by the portal in the first place, and they were… kind of crazy about ghosts. They had to at least figure out a bit more about whatever was going on before talking to Mr. and Mrs. Fenton about it. 

Once Danny shut the door to his room, thoughts immediately went back to the situation. Food was dumped on Danny’s desk, and the three settled into their more regular positions: Tucker in the desk chair, Danny at the head of the bed, and Sam at the foot. They were all a bit more calmed down. Not stable by any means, but more clear-headed and able to talk about… whatever had happened down there. 

“Danny, the ghost came back”, Sam said, beginning the conversation. 

Tucker nodded. “You were there, and we were talking, and then suddenly there was a flash and that…” He shivered. “That _thing_ was in your place.” 

Danny rocked back and forth. “I- I think I know what’s going on.”

“Do you remember anything?”, Sam asked. 

“I do”, Danny said emphatically. “I do because I was there after the flash of light. I was there and I never left. I had white hair and was somehow back in the jumpsuit, but it was still just me. But you guys jumped away and looked at me like I was a rabid dog, and then you ran away.”

“Wait, wait.” Tucker held out a hand. “You weren’t there, dude. Just… a ghost. A dangerous ghost.” 

“That’s what I’m saying”, Danny continued. “Guys… I think I am the ghost.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Can't guarantee consistency of updates with this one (But really, do I do that with any of my fics?) but I plan to keep going. But for now, inspiration has finally returned for my Owl House ghost fic, so off I go to write that!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayo, I'm back. I had a pet die, which was very hard for me, and was also highly overwhelmed with school, so that's why you haven't heard from me in a bit. But I'm doing better now, and I put in some time writing more of this! This and the next chapter were going to originally be one, but then it really grew so I decided to split it. But I've decided to have some impulse control, so that means you won't have to wait another month to hear from this fic because I have another fully written chapter waiting to be posted, perhaps next week.

“No way.” “You can’t be!”, Tucker and Sam immediately said over each other. 

“Danny, that monster, there’s no way it’s you. It-” Sam shivered. “It wanted to hurt us. It looks nothing like you. It’s manipulative and cruel and evil.” 

For some reason, Danny seemed hurt at Sam’s statement. “I know I look a little different when… whatever that is happens, but I don’t look that different! I saw myself in the mirror that first time. The colors are a bit off, my eyes and hair look a bit different, and I guess I kind of glow, but I still look pretty much like me. How could you think I would ever hurt you guys?” 

“We don’t think  _ you  _ would hurt us, dude”, Tucker said. “But the ghost definitely would.” 

“Besides”, Sam added, “you’re clearly alive. You couldn’t be both a ghost and alive at the same time.”

Danny hummed. “Yeah… that part makes no sense. But… it’s what’s happening. I turn into a…” -he swallows- “ghost.”

Sam crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “Did the ghost do something to you, Danny? Is it making you say it’s you?”

Danny put his face in his hands and let out a breath. “It’s like there’s something keeping you guys from recognizing me when I’m like that.” 

Tucker leaned back in the desk chair. “Ok. Ok, let’s say we believe that you are that... thing.” 

“Which we don’t”, Sam added. 

“It’s still dangerous. And… how does it even happen?”  _ How do we stop it from happening again?  _

“I…” Danny paused and let out a  _ hmmm _ . “I don’t actually know.” 

Tucker rocked back. “Maybe it won’t happen again. For all we know, it was just a two-time thing, and we won’t have to worry about it?”

“...maybe”, Danny said doubtfully. 

\---

Sam and Tucker told Mr. and Mrs. Fenton that they were going to stay the night; as much as they hoped the ghost wouldn’t come back, they really didn’t want to leave Danny alone after whatever had happened. Luckily, it was a Friday, and the friends staying over wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. They dragged up some sleeping bags from some closet and laid them out on the floor, and spent a bit of time talking like they would any normal sleepover. But they were all pretty exhausted and wholly emotionally spent, so they went to bed a lot quicker than they would have normally. The  _ night  _ was without event, and Tucker began to believe that maybe, just maybe, it had all been some sort of dream or shared hallucination. 

But of course, it wasn’t. 

When he woke up in the morning, Tucker immediately felt  _ its  _ presence. He froze, body going tense. If he didn’t move, maybe it would move on, leave him alone. He couldn’t see it from where he lay on the floor, and that made him feel vulnerable. 

“Tucker?”, its terrible voice came, imitating timidness. Tucker didn’t give any response, but cursed the shiver that ran through him.  _ It might see it, it might attack…  _

“T-tucker”, it said again, tone nervous. “I woke up like this, and I was on the ceiling and now I can’t get down.” 

_ The ghost had replaced Danny in his sleep.  _ Tucker tried to push down the dread at that thought. His friend wasn’t safe. No one was safe. 

A shriek pierced the room, startling Tucker. There was a thump, then an “Ow!”, from the ghost. 

“Sam!”, the ghost said. 

A scrambling, and then, “Stay back!” 

“Shh!”, the ghost hissed. “My parents might hear you, and I really don’t want them seeing me like…” The echoing voice faltered. 

It crossed Tucker’s mind that maybe they should get Danny’s parents now; they were experts. But no, they couldn’t do that. It might endanger Danny if the ghost really did have some kind of awful hold over him. 

There was no point in pretending to be inert now; the ghost no doubt knew he was awake, so it would be better to get up into a position where he could run and keep an eye on the threat. Tucker scrambled to his feet quickly, throwing off the sleeping bag as quickly as he could. His mind unhelpfully screamed  _ Danger go faster DANGER  _ all the while, but Tucker was beginning to get a handle on tuning it out. Logical thought was more useful in a situation like this, after all. 

Now with a proper line of sight, Tucker surveyed the situation. The ghost was, indeed, floating by the ceiling, looking uncomfortable. It could still do plenty of damage from up there, though. Sam was on the other side of the room, closer to the window and clutching her elbow. Had the ghost hurt her?!

The ghost flashed its toxic eyes over to Tucker, gaze piercing and dead. He wanted to demand “Did you hurt Sam?”, but the words died on his tongue under that oh-so-awful gaze. 

“Where’s Danny? You still haven’t told us!”, Sam demanded instead. The ghost opened its mouth, but Sam glared. “Don’t pull that ‘you’re Danny’ bullshit.” 

The ghost pulled back, bumping against the ceiling. It brought a hand to its temple, and with a feigned breath began slowly “...I’m not Danny. I guess. I don’t see any way to get you guys to believe I am. But I’m not going to hurt you! Could you at least believe that?”

“Sure”, Tucker spat. 

The ghost threw its hands out. “I am floating on the ceiling, completely out of my own control, with no way to get down! How could I hurt you?” 

A spike of fear lanced through Tucker at the ghost’s outburst. It was getting more volatile. He had to get  _ away.  _

But the ghost seemed to notice. “Wait, wait!”, it said. More softly, it continued, “Please don’t run away.”

Well now he couldn’t anyway; the ghost would stop him. It would be more dangerous to try to escape than to stay here without the element of surprise. Still, Tucker kept his guard up. 

“Can we just… talk?”, the ghost asked. 

Sam and Tucker exchanged a look before Sam crossed her arms and nodded. “But only if you let me and Tucker move over by the door. And you stay on the  _ opposite  _ side of the room.”

“Of course you can move!”, the ghost exclaimed. It drooped. “You guys really are scared, aren’t you.” 

“We have reason”, Tucker said coldly. He felt foolishly emboldened by the ghost’s supposed submissiveness. Of course it was all an act,  _ he knew that,  _ but he welcomed anything to alleviate the all-consuming fear. 

“So, what do you have to say?”, Sam asked, her eyes narrow. 

“I just…”, the ghost faltered. “Nothing really, I guess. I just hate you guys being scared of me. I want to talk, and I really just need help…” 

“Why should we trust anything you say?”, Tucker asked. 

“Well…” A pause. “I want… Danny back as much as you do.” 

“Then bring him back!”, Sam exploded. 

“I don’t know how!” 

Tucker jumped back, startled by the ghost’s sudden exclamation. The alarm bells in his head screamed louder. It was getting angry, and that meant it would attack. 

The ghost recoiled, hurt ( _ feigned hurt,  _ Tucker’s instincts reminded him) rising in its toxic gaze. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to… scare you guys.” 

Neither Tucker nor Sam had a response to this, so it was the ghost who continued, gripping its forearm. “Um… you guys can go, if you want. I don’t like making you uncomfortable. But... would you mind keeping my parents out of the room? I don’t want them seeing me like this.”

There it went again, picking up the charade of being Danny! Tucker thought it had dropped that. It just made him angrier at this thing for whatever it had done to Danny, and scared for his friend. It took a moment for Tucker to register the first part of the ghost’s statement. 

“You’re letting us leave?”, he asked skeptically, eying the ghost. 

The ghost sighed, but nodded. 

Tucker was sure this was a trap, somehow, but this was their best opportunity to get away. He was about to turn to exit when a voice drifted up to the bedroom, causing all the figures in the room to freeze. 

“Danny? Sam, Tucker?” It was Mrs. Fenton. 

The ghost’s eyes immediately went wide, and it ran a hand through its wispy hair. “She can’t see me like this!” It turned a desperate gaze on Sam and Tucker. “Please, tell my parents I’m fine or… something!”

“Kids?”, Mrs. Fenton called again. There was the sound of footsteps. 

Tucker felt Sam grab his arm and pull him out through the door into the hallway, shutting it just a little too hard behind her. She put on her “talking to authority figures” smile, and Tucker tried to follow suit as Mrs. Fenton came up the stairs and into the hallway. 

“Oh, there you are!”, she greeted. “I heard some shouting, and just wanted to make sure everything was alright. No ghost trouble?” 

Both Sam and Tucker stiffened. It had, in fact, been  _ exactly  _ ghost trouble, but Tucker still didn’t want to let either of the elder Fentons know about that, not if their fervor might somehow endanger Danny. 

“Nope”, Sam choked out. 

Mrs. Fenton gave them an odd look. “Well, you can always tell me or Jack if there ever is any trouble.” She paused, glancing around. “Where’s Danny?” 

A stiff breath, _the ghost’s breath_ (why was a dead thing breathing?) came softly through the bedroom door. The off-putting sound only heightened the tension. Tucker hoped Mrs. Fenton hadn’t heard it. 

“He’s fine”, Sam said casually with a wave of her hand. 

Mrs. Fenton looked around the hallway, then back to Sam and Tucker. “Something feels… off”, she muttered quietly, and she gave a little shiver. But her bright smile soon returned. “Well, whenever you three are ready you can come down for breakfast.” She waved to the friends before turning to leave down the stairs. 

Once Danny’s mother was gone, Tucker slumped back against the wall while Sam let out a relieved sigh. “So…”

Sam was cut off when a figure fell through the wall with a loud yelp. An echoing yelp. Both Sam and Tucker jumped back, plastering themselves against the walls like frightened rabbits as their eyes were met with the ghost’s. 

“Ouch…”, it said, rubbing its head as it pushed itself up from the floor.

Tucker’s breathing came heavy. There was no reasoning with this entity, it didn’t honor its agreements,  _ no one was safe… _

The ghost made a little noise in the back of its throat. “I… did not mean to do that. Ow.” It sighed. “That… is going to take some getting used to.” 

“I- I thought you said we could go”, Tucker stammered out.

\---

The ghost squeezed its eyes shut and rubbed a gloved palm to its temple, making no response. 

Sam narrowed her eyes, tamping down the dread that surged through her. Its mannerisms… they were so humanlike. She considered a moment, before taking a risk. “Could you go back into Danny’s bedroom?”, she ventured hesitantly. Asking, ordering, trying to reason with this monster, it could get both her and Tucker killed. But if it could listen… perhaps the creature could be defeated peacefully, and they could get Danny back. 

The ghost nodded quickly, raising its hands above its head. It seemed… heartened by her question. Sam wasn’t sure she liked that. “Sure, no problem.” It turned back around, moving to open the door (Why would a creature like this try to open the door? Ghosts could walk through walls, that was the most basic rule of ghosts. She should know. Another fragment to add to the swiftly growing heap of mysteries around this thing that kept replacing her friend). But as it tried to grab the doorknob, its hand wavered and fell clean through it. It let out a frustrated groan, taking several more tries before it got a grip and was able to twist it open. 

The moment the door closed, putting that welcome layer of protection between them and the ghost, Sam grabbed Tucker and dragged him down the hallway towards the Fentons’ laundry room. She didn’t want either of Danny’s parents walking in on them discussing this out in the open hallway. 

“I think we should try talking with it”, Sam blurted as soon as the door was shut. 

Tucker opened his mouth to protest, but Sam shushed him. “No, think about it. I know the ghost’s dangerous, and we should definitely  _ not  _ trust it, but there’s something weird about this whole situation. The ghost definitely isn’t Danny, but maybe it can be reasoned with.” 

Tucker fidgeted with his hands. “Sam, I don’t know…” 

Sam fixed her gaze on Tucker’s. “I don’t think this is going away. The ghost, it’s going to keep coming and replacing Danny. Wouldn’t it be better to have some sense of what we’re dealing with?”

Tucker sighed, running a hand over his face. “Alright, we can try it. But if things go south, we get out of there and blast that monster’s ass back to whence it came.” 

“Oh, agreed”, Sam said emphatically. 

The two exited the laundry room and walked the short distance down the hall back to Danny’s room. Cautiously, they pushed open the door. Sam’s hands were shaking, and she hated that. 

The ghost was there, pacing and muttering to itself. It seemed to hear them come in. “Oh, you’re back!”, it said, surprise lacing the tone. Sam and Tucker froze. 

“Oh… um.” The ghost backed up awkwardly until it was pressed against the wall near the window. “Is that… better?” 

“A bit”, Tucker said strainedly. 

“Cool…” The ghost stretched the word out, then trailed off. 

Sam cleared her throat, trying to stand up taller, project strength instead of nerves. “We wanted to talk”, she said briskly, the words tumbling out rapidly. Getting to the point was best, she decided. Maybe they could even get it to give Danny back faster this way. And get out of this ghost’s presence.

The ghost’s lips parted. “You do?” It seemed, for some reason, happy at this prospect. There was something so off about this whole situation. Guard up, her instincts said. Guard up. 

“Yes”, Sam continued. “You already know we want Danny back.” 

“So do I!”, the ghost exclaimed. “That’s what I’ve been saying!” 

Sam couldn’t help tense up at the tone shift. She wished they’d thought to grab weapons. Stupid! Tucker stiffened beside her. 

The ghost seemed to shrink back in on itself. “Oh, right. No sudden movements. Or emotions? Yeah. Sorry…” 

Sam nodded slowly. “...thanks. Anyway. We were wondering why you keep coming back, replacing Danny.” 

There was silence for a moment before the ghost began its answer. “I… he… I’m not trying to, er, replace Danny. It just kind of happens?” 

Sam groaned inwardly. Whether or not the ghost was being sincere, this made things a lot harder. She was beginning to regret this entire endeavor; the crawling feeling of wrongness being around the ghost induced was wearing down at her resolve.

“How about you go away, then?”, Tucker offered. “If you really don’t mean us any harm, why don’t you just give Danny back, right now?”

“I… don’t know how”, the ghost mumbled. 

Sam groaned again, this time audible. “Anything you can try?”, she said through gritted teeth. 

“Well”, the ghost fidgeted a bit. “Maybe it’s mental? Like, I could think about it?” 

“Go for it, then”, Sam prompted. She wanted to hope this would work. 

The ghost closed its eyes, blocking out their glow. After a moment, it almost inaudibly muttered “I want to be human again.” 

Sam and Tucker stood by tensely, waiting for something to happen. Hadn’t there been a flash when Danny had returned those last two times? They waited far too long as nothing happened. 

And then, in an instant, Danny was back. 

Fierce relief crashed through Sam. She rushed up to her friend and put her hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay? The ghost didn’t do anything to you?” 

“I… no”, Danny said. He was turning his hands over in front of him, looking at the now-bare palms blankly. 

Tucker came to stand at Danny’s other side. “Anything we can do?” 

“I… no”, Danny repeated, shaking his head. 

Sam’s thoughts flicked back to Danny’s parents. They might start asking questions, and there was no way Sam was letting them get involved in this mess. “Shall we?”, she offered, gesturing towards the door. The boys nodded in agreement, and they all walked out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> I decided to introduce a Sam perspective in here, because I really felt the thoughts I wanted to convey fit her character better just for that part. Besides, I wanted to start shifting perspectives relatively early on because there really are some parts that go over better from a different character's POV. I kind of have this subconscious dislike of Sam that I'm pretty sure stems from the way this show awakens the latent spirit of my romance-despising ten-year-old self, like an anti die for my ship mentality. While none of these characters are perfect and everything in Danny Phantom really is a product of its time, Sam is honestly not that bad a character, and I'm working to drag myself out of the bias-trench and incorporate that more. 
> 
> I'm absolutely open to constructive criticism, so if you see anything I could improve on, technically, narratively, or character-wise, feel free to tell me. I'm always looking to improve!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I'm back at it again, deciding to post this chapter today. I hope I can keep this fic to a semi-regular update schedule; I do have two chapters written past this one because I spent last weekend pounding out on this one. Also, I wrote the literal ending (which was super cathartic after all that angst), so yall can rest assured that on the off chance I lose motivation and stop writing this, there's a final hurrah I can post to provide some closure. The mood whiplash in this chapter is absolutely swinging. Enjoy!

“Your parents came up earlier”, Tucker told his friend. The trio had gone and got breakfast, and now were back in Danny’s room. Mr. and Mrs. Fenton were nowhere to be seen, but the crashes coming from the lab made it clear where they were. 

Danny nodded. “Yeah, I was there.” Tucker furrowed his brow a bit at the strange comment, but brushed it off. Danny  _ did  _ seem to have a weird knowledge of what happened whenever the ghost was in his place; perhaps he could see through the creature, wherever he went when it happened? 

“Can you control it? Stop it?”, Sam asked. This time, she sat sprawled on the floor. “When the ghost comes, I mean?” 

“Kind of?”, Danny answered hesitantly. “I mean, It’s hard, but I think I at least have an idea of how to change back. And I could probably go back to being a ghost if I wanted to.”

That was an… odd way of referring to what happened when the ghost came and replaced him, but Danny was the one going through it, so Tucker supposed he couldn’t judge him too much. 

“But it seems like it just happens sometimes, too. And then I can’t control it”, Danny continued.

“That's an issue”, Tucker commented. 

“Yep”, Danny grumbled. 

“Are you going to be okay at school on Monday?”, Sam asked. “That could be dangerous for everyone around and you.” 

“I’ll have to be”, Danny said. “My parents won’t let me skip, not without a clear reason. It’s not like I can tell them the truth.” 

“So you don’t want us to tell them about the ghost?”

“Considering I am the ghost, I would very much not like to tell my parents, the ghost hunters, that I am one… at least partly.” Danny shivered a bit. 

“Your secret’s safe with us, dude”, Tucker said reassuringly. Sam nodded her agreement, to which Danny smiled weakly. 

“Thanks.” The three lapsed into silence for a minute before Danny spoke up. “Would you guys mind if I… tried something?”

Tucker tilted his head and replied, “Sure.” Sam gave a shrug of apparent agreement as Tucker continued, “What do you want to try?” 

Danny’s hands fidgeted a bit and he looked down. “I want to… to go into ghost form, on purpose. I mean, I… I want to try and get you to see that it’s just me. I want to see if you can be… a little less afraid.”

Dread shot through Tucker. Sam went a little more rigid. 

“You want to...  _ let  _ that thing replace you?”, Sam asked. 

“Not replace”, Danny replied. “It’s still me.” 

“I don’t know”, Tucker said, trailing off. 

“Please?”, Danny asked. “Can we at least try?” 

There was a long moment, the silence hanging heavy in the air between the three friends. But finally, Sam spoke. “...we can try.” 

Danny then turned to Tucker, eyes pleading. Tucker shifted in the desk chair a little. He cared about Danny, but none of this felt right, none of this felt  _ safe,  _ not for him or Sam or Danny. But… Danny’s pleading gaze held a conviction his words had as well. His friend needed this. So slowly, Tucker nodded. 

Danny let out a relieved sigh. “Thank you guys so much”, he said earnestly. 

Over the next few minutes, they talked it over some more. It took a fair bit of convincing, but Sam and Tucker conceded to not getting weapons. They arranged themselves so that Tucker stood next to Sam, Danny in front of them both. 

Tucker tried to steel himself.  _ The ghost is Danny. Danny is the ghost. And Danny would never hurt you,  _ he thought. He wanted to believe it, believe the two were the same, so badly. But hard as he tried, he couldn’t connect the two in his mind. They were so completely different. The ghost was inhuman, wrong, a predator that had it out to hurt them in any way possible. And Danny was one of his best friends, who he’d known since grade school, someone Tucker wouldn’t hesitate to trust with his life. 

Still, he had to do this for Danny. They all needed to work through this. The ghost was Danny, and Danny was the ghost. That was inescapable. 

“Ready?”, Danny asked nervously. 

“Yep”, Sam said, although her unsure tone indicated otherwise. Tucker just nodded. 

“Alright”, Danny said. “Please… Please don’t run away.”

Tucker and Sam both nodded, and Danny shut his eyes. For a moment, nothing happened, and Tucker began to wonder if maybe the ghost  _ really wasn’t coming back _ , but then there was a flash as a ring of light appeared around Danny’s waist, splitting to swipe over him. Danny disappeared, and in his place was left the ghost. White hair, black jumpsuit, white accents.

Tucker’s breathing immediately quickened, and he grabbed Sam’s hand, squeezing it hard.  _ Danger, Danger, RUN it’s going to hurt you RUN, _ Tucker’s mind screamed. But he tuned it out. He had to tune it out. That wasn’t so hard. He was getting better at tuning it out.  _ Think happy thoughts.  _

The ghost opened its eyes, revealing that awful green glow, and looked up at Sam and Tucker. “So…” 

Neither Tucker nor Sam knew how to respond. Tucker was currently occupied with trying to school his expression into something at least neutral, because  _ this was just Danny and god knows he’s been through enough already,  _ but  _ the thing in front of him was Not Human, Not Danny, DANGEROUS.  _ The two warring strains of thought duking it out in his head were quite exhausting. He didn’t like it, the way instinct was overriding what he told himself, knowledge he wanted to and by all measures should believe was true. 

“You’re not going to hurt us”, Sam stated shakily. She did not at all sound like she believed her words. 

The ghost glanced around. “Is there any way I can make this… I don’t know, less scary for you guys?” 

“Y- you could stand a little farther away”, Tucker offered. 

The ghost looked a bit discouraged by this, but it obliged, backing up slowly until it stood on the other side of the bedroom.” 

Sam let out a long breath. “That’s a little better.” 

“Ok, good!” The ghost brightened up a little. The sudden shift was startling, and put Tucker on edge. He hated its imitation of emotions. But at the same time, he was getting a bit more used to it. He was getting more used to everything about the ghost, actually, through the fear. 

The ghost squeezed its forearm. “So, can you recognize me any better? Or… something?” 

“You’re the ghost”, Tucker said. He looked up and down the ghost’s inhuman form once again. He was  _ trying  _ to connect that form with Danny’s again, but the two were wholly incompatible. 

“I’m Danny”, the ghost groaned. “Can’t you see that, even a little bit?” 

“Nope.” Sam shook her head. 

The ghost tapped its foot, seeming to be in thought.  _ But ghosts don’t think, do they?  _ Tucker thought.  _ Not really, not in the way a human can. Not in the way anything living can.  _ After a moment, it looked up with a smile that revealed ever so slightly too-sharp teeth. “I can write!”, it exclaimed. “My handwriting will be the same.” 

Tucker could have laughed at the dorkish mundanity of the idea, had it not come from such a vile source. If he thought very hard, it could have been the sort of idea that had come from Danny. But from the ghost, it was twisted, and certainly with malicious intent. 

_ No!  _ Tucker berated himself.  _ The ghost is Danny, and we’re trying to be on good terms.  _ But he didn’t really believe the thought. 

“I’m going to move now, ok?”, the ghost warned. “Over to the desk.” 

Tucker and Sam both nodded tightly, and the ghost began to walk. But as it did, its form flickered, then disappeared. Both Sam and Tucker let out startled screams.  _ So much for getting used to it,  _ pricked the gossamer-thin strand of logical thought in Tucker’s mind, the tiny part not blocked by fear. 

“What? What happened?”, came the ghost’s voice. Tucker couldn’t tell where it was coming from.  _ It’s hunting us…  _

“Where are you?”, Sam demanded fearfully. 

“Where- what’s going on guys?”, the ghost’s voice came. Then there was a yelp. “What happened to my hand?” A shuffling. “What happened to my  _ body?”  _

After a second, the ghost’s body popped back into existence, prompting a screech from Sam and a crash from Tucker. The ghost’s unsettling green eyes widened, fixing on them more intently. “What, what happened?” 

_ It’s just Danny, he won’t hurt you if you show vulnerability,  _ Tucker tried telling himself, of course believing none of it. He managed to choke out “You- you disappeared, but your voice was still here, like you c-camouflaged or something.” 

The ghost clicked its tongue. “Great. Just great.” It turned and closed the distance to the desk, picking up a pen and some of Danny’s untouched homework to scrawl out something. It finished, triumphantly lifting the paper and displaying it to Sam and Tucker, who flinched back from the ghost’s extended arm. “See? It’s my handwriting.” 

Sam shook her head. “That’s a bunch of scribbles.” It was, indeed, a bunch of scribbles. If Tucker stared really hard, he could perhaps just make out some strange symbols within. Nevertheless, whatever the ghost had tried to write on the paper was wholly unintelligible. 

The ghost’s brow furrowed, and it turned the paper back around to look. Promptly, it flopped into the desk chair and banged its head down on the table. The movement was fluid, boneless, just a little too inhuman. “You’re kidding me”, it grumbled. 

Tucker shook his head. After a minute, the ghost sighed and got to its feet. It occurred to Tucker to wonder how the thing could sigh with no lungs. This ghost was strange.  _ Dangerous,  _ that downright  _ annoying  _ little instinct nagged. 

“I’m Danny”, it said. “I know things only Danny could know. I can-”

“Please don’t”, Sam said quickly, cutting it off. Immediately, she clapped her hand to her mouth.  _ Shoot, she interrupted it, it's going to lash out-,  _ Tucker thought, clasping Sam’s other hand just a bit harder, a slight tug towards the door. 

“What did I do that time?”, the ghost sighed defeatedly. It looked itself over, eyes trailing down black-clad arms and booted feet. “My body isn’t doing anything weird.” Sam and Tucker gave no response. The ghost moved farther back from Tucker and Sam, which eased the two’s fear just a little bit. 

“What were you saying?”, it asked.

Sam gulped. “I- uh- please don’t do that again, recounting Danny’s memories. I don’t know how you get them out of him, but it’s creepy.” 

The ghost deflated a bit. “Oh.” 

There was an awkward silence. Tucker eventually broke it by clearing his throat. “Um… maybe you could tell us a bit about yourself? Not Danny, you.”

The ghost let out a snort. “Why not. You’re clearly not going to believe me.”

Tucker wasn’t sure what that meant, but Sam picked up the conversation. “Okay then… what should we call you?” 

The ghost brought a hand to its chin and hummed. “How about… Phantom?” 

That was an… odd name for a ghost. Not that Tucker was going to tell the creature that; he did  _ not  _ want to provoke it. 

“How did you get here?”, Sam asked. 

“The… portal?” The ghost’s— Phantom’s— statement sounded like a question.

“We figured that”, Sam said. “But… why?”

“Good quest-” The ghost was cut off by heavy footsteps and a mechanical clunking, coming from the hallway. It whipped its head around. “Wha- shoot, my parents!” It ran a hand through its hair, glowing eyes growing wide as they snapped to Sam and Tucker. 

_ Imitation _ , snarled a part of Tucker’s mind.  _ The ghost is Danny, and Danny is the ghost,  _ said another. He hated that he couldn’t pick one out as truth. 

He hardly had any time to think before Mr. and Mrs. Fenton burst into the bedroom. “We’ve got you now, ecto-scum!”, Mr. Fenton bellowed. 

Both of Danny’s parents had their hoods up, and carried a veritable arsenal of weapons. Mr. Fenton had two  _ very  _ large Fenton Bazookas at the ready, while Mrs. Fenton held some strange device Tucker hadn’t seen before in one hand and a smaller ectogun in the other. 

All their usual overexcited confidence dropped once their eyes set upon the ghost. Their gazes hardened immediately as their postures tensed and their hands gripped harder to their weapons. Mr. Fenton shivered, while a darker, flinty anger filled Mrs. Fenton’s gaze. 

Phantom, meanwhile, had backed up against the opposite wall, flattening itself as if trying to shrink away. 

“What are you doing here, ghost?”, Mrs. Fenton asked coldly, voice shaking with some indiscernible combination of emotions. “How did you get in here?” Mrs. Fenton’s eyes very suddenly widened, and her head whipped around, scanning the room. “Where’s Danny?” 

Phantom’s mouth had dropped open. It trembled like a leaf, and then it was gone, body no longer visible. But Tucker could still  _ feel  _ its presence. Evidently, so did the Fentons. “The tracker says it’s there”, Mrs. Fenton murmured to her husband, pointing to that spot on the wall the ghost had been pressed against moments ago. And the two ghost hunters began to close in. 

Sam suddenly threw a hand out, trembling a little. “Wait!” 

_ What…  _ It then dawned on Tucker what she was doing. She was trying to protect it. Which… which made sense. They had to. Hurting the creature might hurt Danny; they couldn’t let the Fentons do that. 

“Yeah”, Tucker said shakily. The Fentons halted, turning to look at the two teens. Tucker waited for Sam to continue, but she didn’t say anything. 

“Did you have a plan?”, he muttered out of the corner of his mouth, keeping his voice low so the Fentons couldn’t hear. 

“Uh…” 

“You’re in danger from a ghost”, Mr. Fenton said matter-of-factly, voice low but somehow still containing a little hint of levity. 

“Let us handle this, kids”, Mrs. Fenton said. 

“Don’t!”, Sam cried hastily. “What if it…  _ went through the wall _ .” She put a particular emphasis on those last four words. “ _ Intangibly.” _

Tucker picked up on what Sam was doing. “Uh, yeah”, he said. “It can  _ fly. _ ” 

An echoing exclamation of “Oh!” came from the spot on the wall, causing all four humans to jump. The Fentons immediately rounded on it, weapons whirring. “Eat this!”, Mr. Fenton cried, before firing a massive ectoblast from his bazooka. It blew a hole straight through the bedroom wall, directly where Phantom had invisibly crouched.

Sam let out a gasp, and Tucker winced as slow horror came over him. He could  _ feel  _ the absence of the ghost’s presence, like a great weight falling away. But in the absence of fear worry replaced it. Had Phantom gotten away? If the Fentons had hurt it, what if they had hurt Danny…

“You’re safe now”, Mrs. Fenton said, running a hand down her ectogun. She looked around. “Now, where’s Danny?” 

Sam and Tucker exchanged a look. “He’s fine”, Sam said. Tucker sincerely hoped that wasn’t a lie. 

“I’d still like to see that he’s-” Mrs. Fenton began. 

“He’s very busy”, Tucker interrupted, attempting to sound nonchalant. “He just had to go down to the dry cleaners.” 

Sam whipped her head around to stare at Tucker. “The dry cleaners?!”, she mouthed. 

Tucker put his hands up helplessly.  _ I’d like to see you come up with a better excuse! _

Sam brought a hand to her temple before plastering on the fakest smile Tucker had ever seen. “Yep”, she said through gritted teeth. “He went to… the dry cleaners, all right.”

Both of Danny’s parents seemed very skeptical, but Mrs. Fenton glanced down at her scanner which she still held in her left hand. “Jack!”, she exclaimed. “There’s more ghost activity down in the lab!” 

“Let’s go get it, Mads!”, Mr. Fenton said, turning and hurrying his large form out the doorway. Mrs. Fenton followed just as eagerly, leaving Sam and Tucker alone in the now rather wrecked bedroom. 

Sam put a hand on her hip, rounding on Tucker. “‘The dry cleaners’? What kind of an excuse was that?” 

“I was trying!”, Tucker exclaimed. 

Sam sighed. “We have bigger issues. What happened to the ghost?” 

Tucker sucked in a sharp breath as concern gripped him once again. “It should have flown out of the way…”  _ I hope _ . Tucker made his way over to the newly-created hole in the wall. Gripping the bricks still intact, he leaned a little bit over the edge. Sam followed, leaning out as well. Tucker scanned below, looking for any signs of the creature. Or, better yet, of Danny, alive and well and  _ fine.  _

“Danny?”, Tucker called softly. After a moment, he more weakly called, “Phantom?” 

The echoing of wind was the only sound that drifted back. 

Sam bit her lip, worry glittering sharper in her purple gaze. Tucker exchanged a glance with her, his friend’s feelings reflecting his own. But then… 

“Are they gone?” The almost inaudible whisper was unmistakable. The ghost. Phantom. 

Back came that ocean of fear, but now there was a different emotion beating it back: relief. It wasn’t  _ good,  _ per se, that the ghost was okay and fine, but it being here meant that Danny was probably okay, and the ghost could just give him back. And that was good. 

“They’re gone.” 

Tucker felt the air shift, and  _ something  _ rush past him, something that chilled him bone-deep. Then there was an odd sound, and Tucker spun around to see Phantom floating on the other side of the room, still shaking. 

“I… I was hiding”, it said. It turned to give a look at the sizable hole in Danny’s bedroom wall and sighed. “These are going a fun few days while that gets repaired.”

“Can you give Danny back? Please?”, Sam asked. “I know Danny wanted to do this and all, but…”

Phantom nodded wordlessly. It turned its head down, closed its eyes, and for a moment just floated there. Its lips moved a bit, and then there were the rings and a heavy thump as Danny’s body,  _ Danny,  _ thudded to the floor. 

“It worked”, their friend sighed as he looked at his hands. He looked up to Sam and Tucker “Right?” 

The two nodded, moving over to pull him up from the floor. “You’re… okay?”, Sam asked. 

Danny shrugged. “As much as I can be?” 

Not great, but fine for now, Tucker supposed. “We should probably go see your parents. They were looking for you.” 

“Oh.” Danny let out a weak chuckle. 

“Tucker told them you went to the dry cleaners”, Sam scoffed, rolling her eyes, 

Danny let out another laugh, this one more genuine. “I guess you always were a terrible liar, Tuck.”

“Hey! Like you’re any better!”, Tucker said indignantly. 

His friends laughed a bit more before they headed down. Both Fentons were relieved to see Danny okay, wrapping him up in a firm hug, at which he squirmed. “Mom, my friends are here”, he muttered, voice hot with embarrassment. 

“That’s no excuse, young man”, Mrs. Fenton said. 

“Yeah! No going to the dry cleaners without our permission”, Mr. Fenton picked up. 

Sam and Tucker stood by the stairwell through all of this, stifling their snickers. “I cannot believe they actually bought that excuse”, Sam whispered. 

“Hey, there’s a reason all the ladies want me”, Tucker replied. Sam scoffed. 

Soon after, Sam and Tucker stood with Danny on the Fentonworks doorstep, ready to leave.

“You’ll be fine for the weekend, right?”, Sam asked. 

Danny nodded. “I should be.” 

“Call us if  _ anything  _ goes wrong”, Sam said, looking Danny in the eye. 

Tucker nodded in agreement. “Yeah, dude, we got your back.” 

Danny nodded. “I will, don’t worry.”

“See you on Monday, then”, said Tucker. And with a wave, he and Sam left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> Ghost speak is one of my favorite DP tropes, so I had to jam it in here somehow. Next up we delve into that fresh Danny angst, so look forward to that!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heh... heh... smart brain says stagger chapter releases so I don't run out of prewritten chapters but gremlin brain says Release It Now and guess which one I listened to? I'm back with that juicy ol' Danny angst. And hey, right as I'm posting this my final readthrough is reminding me of a giant continuity error I'm making in the chapter I'm writing right now, so yay for impulsivity? Also, I'm finally bringing myself to record podfics again! So I have a chapter of The Haunting Murders of Bristol Mansion recorded, and now I just need to edit it. Should be out at some point!

The rest of the weekend passed, miraculously, with very little incident. Danny moved into the guest room for the time being, just for while that hole in his wall was repaired. The next day, Danny woke up as a ghost, again, but once he calmed himself down from the initial panic, he’d pulled himself out of the bed (which he had phased through) and with some concentration became human again. 

He knew the whole ‘waking up having unconsciously become a ghost’ thing would be a problem. His mom on most days had to come into his room to drag him out of bed for school. That couldn't continue; he’d have to wake up earlier himself, a prospect he didn’t look forward to. 

He hadn’t voluntarily touched the ‘turning into a ghost’ thing since Saturday, when his parents had… had shot at him, stared at him with those angry, fearful, _hateful_ gazes. He… he didn’t want to think about it. And there was this little niggling fear, what if he got stuck that way, or what if he really was, or might become, the monster everyone saw when they were anywhere near him when he was a ghost? It wasn’t something he liked to think about, so he simply did his best to ignore it. 

And so Monday came, Danny shooting up at the sound of his alarm. His gaze instantly turned to his hair, then his hands. Black, ungloved. He wasn’t a ghost. He felt a little surge of triumph at for the first time not unconsciously changing in his sleep, but then groaned as he realized he’d gotten up early for nothing. Still, he didn’t want to risk sleeping again.

Reluctantly, he pulled himself up and got ready before heading to the kitchen for breakfast. Jazz was already there, of course, reading another one of her psychology books at the kitchen table. She looked up when she heard him come in. 

“Danny!”, she greeted, sounding surprised. She tilted her head. “You’re never up this early.” 

Danny shrugged. “Yeah, well, there’s a first time for everything”, he mumbled. 

Jazz hummed, bringing a hand to her chin. “You know, you’re at a very critical time in your development as a person. This big of a behavioral change, it’s strange. Is there anything you want to talk about?”

Danny groaned. Of course his sister was psychoanalyzing him _again._ “I’m _fine,_ Jazz.” 

“Are you-”

“Fine”, he repeated, grabbing a banana off the counter and hoping it wasn’t contaminated. “Gotta get to school now, bye!” And he promptly headed through the living room and out the front door, ignoring Jazz’s protestations. 

It was too early to meet up with Sam and Tucker; they’d probably still be sleeping like sensible people. So Danny meandered down the streets, taking in all the familiar locations. The morning had a kind of silence to it, calm and still. 

Danny could feel his heart, a living, human heart, pumping within his chest. That fact was comforting. His body was warm, and living, and alive. His lungs, human lungs, took in breaths, in and out.

But sitting in his chest was something else, something _cold._ It had been there ever since that… the accident. It pulsed slowly and steadily, feeling so _different_ from everything about him that was human. But at the same time, it felt so natural, a part of him as if it had always been there. He needed it in a way he could tell instinctually. 

It was frightening. 

Still, he told himself, it was just another part. That… that ghostly part of him wasn’t the real him. He was the same person he had always been, just a fourteen-year-old kid who went to school and hung out with his friends and stayed up way too late. _Not a monster._

But he couldn’t shake the memories of the terrified looks Sam and Tucker had given him, how they’d run away and said he was going to hurt them. He’d never hurt them, he knew that! He couldn’t shake the memories of his parents, pointing ectoguns at him with only hatred, anger, _disgust_ in their expressions. Shooting at him. He couldn’t shake any of it and it was all too much and he was just so _scared-_

There was a flash, and Danny’s whole body chilled.

_No, no, no,_ Danny thought, staring down at his hands, now gloved. His bangs, now white. _Not here…_

He couldn’t let people see him like this, know he was this. He was in public, anyone could walk by. He’d scare them too, and he didn’t want that. He couldn’t take more of that. His eyes landed on an alleyway across the street. Taking a look around to assure himself that there was indeed no one in the vicinity, he darted across the street, probably looking like an idiot. He was really lucky no one was out right now. 

He didn’t even notice that he had started flying instead of walking until he stopped in the alley. It was something that kept happening. The alley was nothing remarkable; just the two walls of the brick townhouses on either side and another one at the end. There was a dumpster and a couple of heaps of trash and debris to round out the picture. 

Danny sighed, trying to stay calm. In this form, he couldn’t feel his heartbeat. If he concentrated, he thought maybe his heart was still there, but that could just as easily be him deceiving himself. Normally, he’d be telling himself to take deep breaths if he got overwhelmed, but that was an odd thing to do when he was like this. He felt no need to breathe, having to focus deliberately to do it. He didn’t like that either, but nevertheless sucked in a bit of useless air. Habits could be reassuring, after all. 

He leaned against one of the walls, trying to calm himself down so he could concentrate and focus on being human again. His first instinct was to reach for his phone, maybe text Sam and Tucker, but he quickly realized the stupid jumpsuit had no pockets, and his pants and backpack were both somehow gone anyway. “Great”, he muttered. It was probably better off that he figured this out himself, anyway. Although, maybe they’d be able to recognize him over the phone? It was something to test out later. 

Danny was interrupted from his thoughts when a chill suddenly clawed his throat, pushing up until it released in a puff of blue mist. Moments later, he heard a strange squealing echoing through the alley. His head shot up, and above him he found the source: a bizarre-looking creature, floating in the air. Its body was made up of some sort of gelatinous green substance, giving off a low glow in the shadowed alley. It had a rough face and four trailing tentacles, almost like an octopus, two red eyes peering maliciously at Danny. The mouth had disturbingly sharp teeth. 

“Uh…” Danny said, backing up some. The creature circled in the air again, letting out more squeals. Suddenly, it turned downwards and dove straight at Danny. Danny yelped and jumped out of the way. 

“What the-”, he started, staring at the thing before it made another dive for him. This time, Danny couldn’t stop himself as he jumped into the air, leaving the creature to crash into the pavement. It seemed stunned for a moment, which Danny took to back away, still in the air. The flight, it came instinctively to him. He didn’t have to think hard about it… except when he got stuck on ceilings, that is. The feeling was strange to be sure, but now he could see it at least had some utility. 

The creature didn’t stay down for long. It shook itself off, and then turned on Danny again with a gargling noise. It sounded distinctly angrier. “Nice… ghost… octopus?”, Danny offered, tensing up. Yeah, that made sense. This thing fit the long-winded, excruciatingly detailed descriptions of ghosts his parents had provided in the rambling lectures they insisted on giving. Glowing, flying, attacking. _Like you_ , his mind said, but he pushed the intrusive thought away. He _wasn’t_ a ghost, not really. _Not a monster._

The ghost just gargled in response and shot towards him. 

So, dodging wasn’t working. This thing was persistent; it wasn’t going to stop. Should he run? Logically, that seemed like the best plan, but at the same time something in him didn’t want to. That would be cowardly, and this thing was probably dangerous. Besides, what was there to say it wouldn’t just follow him? Plus, he was frustratingly still a ghost, so it wouldn’t exactly be the best idea to go where he could be seen. 

Danny turned to face the creature. “Guess we’re doing this the hard way”, he sighed. He could try… punching it? Yeah, punching it. He’d gotten some basic self-defense lessons from his mom, at her insistence. That could totally translate to fighting a ghost… while he was also a ghost. And flying. In an alleyway. 

“Here goes nothing”, he muttered, and mustering his courage balled his hand into a tight fist. He flew to the ghost, trying to put force into the motion. He hit, driving his knuckles into its surprisingly squishy, light body. He was grateful for those gloves right about now. 

Unfortunately, he’d overestimated the creature’s heft, and Danny’s momentum sent them both flying into the bricks of the house. He winced as he felt them crack beneath his fist. 

At least the punch stunned the ghost (octopus? ectopus?). It let out a groan, eyes rolling back a bit as it dripped away from Danny’s fist.

A gasp reached Danny’s ears. He whipped around, mouth falling open as he saw an equally openmouthed man standing frozen at the head of the alleyway. Somehow, Danny could hear his ragged breaths despite the distance. There was a spilled cup of coffee at the man’s feet, the dark stain spilling onto the sidewalk where the lid had flown off. 

Danny reached a hand out, still keeping his distance. “I’m sorry, it’s not-”

The man breathed out a single word. “Ghost.”

“I’m not, I swear, I’m not going to hurt you!”, Danny cried, a lump beginning to rise in his throat as he willed himself back to the ground. The ectopus was gone, and even if it hadn’t been it was far from Danny’s mind right now. He stayed still, despair growing as the man began to inch away. _Of course he’s afraid of me. They’re all afraid of me._

He didn’t even try to protest as the man broke into a run, footsteps pounding against pavement as he tried to get away. 

\---

Tucker got to school early the next day. Sam was already there, waiting in front. He was anxious for Danny. They hadn’t heard much from him for the rest of the weekend, just single word responses when he or Sam texted to check in. 

Tucker breathed a sigh of relief when they spotted Danny coming down the sidewalk towards the school, but it was stifled when he saw his friend’s expression. He looked absolutely crushed, almost on the verge of tears. 

Sam didn’t wait for Danny to reach them. “What happened?”, she demanded, coming up to grip Danny’s shoulders. Tucker followed, running to stand next to them. 

Danny drew a breath. “Nothing”, he said shakily. He was definitely on the verge of tears. 

“We know that’s not true, dude”, Tucker said, moving to put a hand on Danny’s back. 

“You won’t believe me”, Danny said, voice cracking. 

“Of course we will! We’re your friends”, Sam exclaimed. 

“Thanks”, Danny said quietly. He looked down, but didn’t elaborate. 

It might be better not to push, Tucker decided. Danny could tell them later, on his own terms. Instead, he moved closer to his friend, wrapping him in a comforting embrace. Sam did the same, and Danny leaned into it.

After a bit, Danny spoke up. “Thanks.” This time, he sounded more sure of it. 

“Anytime, dude”, Tucker said. The trio separated, and the universe chose that moment to have the school bell ring. 

“Let’s not be late again, shall we?”, Sam said. Danny chuckled a little, and Tucker nodded. They all had first period together this year. Getting classes together wasn’t a frequent occurrence, but this year they’d lucked out and had not just one but two periods all together, with some other periods with just one other as well. They managed to slide into their seats in Lancer’s class just in time. 

“Cutting it close, you three”, Mr. Lancer said, staring at them disapprovingly. Tucker smirked. 

The class, English, went by excruciatingly slowly. As usual. Once, Mr. Lancer called on Danny, who seemed absent as he sat there in the chair, eyes unfocused. He’d looked up and stammered a bit, but Sam had jumped in and given the answer. 

“Correct, Ms. Manson”, Lancer said coldly. “But the question was not for you. I’ll let it pass this once. But next time, leave Mr. Fenton to answer his own questions, please.”

Sam’s gaze was defiant as she said, “Of course.” Danny, meanwhile, seemed to have shrunk back further into his seat. Tucker discretely reached over and squeezed his hand, which seemed to reassure his friend some. 

After what felt like an eternity, the bell rang and class was released. The students spilled out into the hallway, and the trio made their way to their lockers to get the next class’s books. Next period, neither Sam nor Tucker had a class with Danny. 

“Did something happen earlier?”, Sam asked in a low voice as the three stood by their lockers. Tucker leaned in to listen. “Was it related to the…” She trailed off, leaving the word they all were thinking unsaid. 

“Nothing happened”, Danny said. “I’m fine.”

“Pushing people away isn’t a good idea, dude-”, Tucker started. 

Danny cut him off. “I’m fine!”, he said, more forcefully. Immediately, he slumped, turning his face down. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to lash out-” 

The conversation was interrupted by the slamming of the locker door. Danny ducked down, narrowly avoiding getting slammed as well, while Sam and Tucker jumped back to either side. 

“Hey, Fen-turd!”, came a voice each one of them knew all too well. 

“Dash, not today”, Tucker growled. 

“Lay off.” Sam punctuated this by stepping closer to Danny. 

“I can’t miss a day of wailing on Fen-toenail”, Dash laughed. “I have a streak going, right boys?”

A chorus of “Yeah!”s came from the jocks clad in letterman jackets that stood behind Dash. 

Discreetly, Tucker pulled out his PDA and began typing. Dash bullying them, mostly Danny, was a regular occurence, and normally there wasn’t much they could do about it, with the way the entire faculty and student body turned a blind eye because of Dash’s status as a star player on the football team. But today, right now, it was _not_ the time. So, Tucker would simply have to make a way to do something about it. 

“So, what’ll it be today?”, Dash jeered. “I was thinking the classic ‘shove nerd in locker.” The jock stepped closer, but stopped with a yelp as Sam stepped forward and planted her combat-boot clad foot down hard on Dash’s, who leapt back with a howl of pain. 

“Oh, whoops”, Sam said, not a hint of remorse in her voice. 

Dash growled, his leering expression twisting to anger. “You little-”

Tucker pushed a final button on his PDA, and water poured down from the sprinklers directly above Dash and his posse. Dash spluttered indignantly, jumping out from under them as fast as he could, but he was already soaked through. He wiped water out of his eyes and started to say something, no doubt another threat, but the trio was already off, Sam and Tucker linking arms with Danny to lead him away. 

“See you later!”, Sam said with a mocking little wave back at the jocks. 

“Or not”, Tucker added, flipping the bird. 

Once they were all further down the hall and a good ways away, Danny sighed. “Thanks”, he said softly. 

“No problem, dude”, Tucker said. The bell promptly rang out, and the trio realized that they all had to get to their classes. Which, of course, passed excruciatingly slowly. 

Tucker didn’t see Danny or Sam again until lunch. When they all convened at their usual table, Tucker was happy to see Danny looking a bit more upbeat. 

“How did your weekend go?” Sam asked. 

Danny immediately looked down, using his plastic spork to push around whatever unappetizing school lunch had been offered today. “Can we… not talk about it?”, he asked, voice quiet. 

Tucker and Sam exchanged a concerned glance, but nodded. “If you really don’t want to, dude.” 

Danny sighed and leaned more closely into his food. After a few wordless minutes, he got up from the table and walked out of the lunchroom. Sam moved to follow after him, but Tucker grabbed her arm. “I think he needs some space right now.” 

Sam let out a frustrated groan, but sat back down, putting her head in her hands. “It’s just… I hate this so much! Danny’s really hurting and I don’t know what we can do to fix it. I just feel so... helpless.”

Tucker sighed. “Me too.” He put his hand over Sam’s.

Tucker began to grow concerned when Danny didn’t come back. Minutes ticked by, food going untouched. The buzz of the lunchroom continued around them, impervious to their struggles. 

Then suddenly, a horribly familiar fear came over him. 

Sam shot up from the bench where she sat, knocking back her food. “Oh no”, she breathed. “It’s not…”

Tucker gulped, getting up as well. All around them, students had stopped their conversations, shivering and whispering to each other, huddling closer into their groups. 

“We have to find Danny”, Sam said, voice hard and dead serious. “Or at least…” 

Tucker nodded immediately. “Let’s go.” 

They had just begun to move when they were startled by a massive crashing, accompanied by the shattering of glass. Several screams rose up, and Tucker whirled around to look for the source of the noise. He found it by the wall of the lunchroom. 

It was a massive, glowing green snake. Jagged teeth edged an unsettlingly large mouth. Its sinewy green body undulating through the air as it let out an unearthly screech. Malicious red eyes scanned across the room. 

Everything was chaos by now. Food had gone flying, and you couldn’t hear anything over the screams. Some people pounded on the doors, which had at some point closed. Others ran aimlessly while still others cowered under tables. Tucker himself was frozen to the ground, unable to will himself to move. The fear he felt at this thing, it was nowhere near what he felt around Phantom, but the outward menace of a _giant flying snake_ with who knows how many teeth was plenty to make up for the gap. 

He was only snapped out of it when Sam grabbed his arm. “We gotta go. _Now_.” Her voice was forceful, but each word came between a shaky breath. Tucker gave a slight nod and followed after her.

\--- 

After he’d ran out on his friends, Danny had ducked out of the lunchroom and into the bathroom, claiming the stall and locking it behind him. He’d perched himself on the toilet, drawing his knees up to his chest so no one could see him in here. He felt terrible about just leaving them with no explanation, but he just… he couldn’t handle any more questions, any more odd stares as they didn’t believe him. It hurt _so much_ not to be able to tell them, explain to them, to not have them understand. 

And the worst part of it was he could _tell_ they were trying. They wanted to help him, and he could tell they hated seeing him like this too. Something was keeping them from getting it, connecting the obvious pieces. Embarrassment rose in Danny’s chest as he felt a tear roll down his face. He quickly brought a hand up to wipe it away. 

_Why me?_

He’d never even liked all his parents’ ghost stuff! Maybe he didn’t hate it like Jazz did, but it’s not like he’d ever jumped on the ghost express. He just wanted to be an astronaut. He’d never asked for any of this, and now he was stuck with some ghostly part he couldn’t get rid of.

But hey, on the bright side, at least he hadn’t accidentally shifted since this morning. 

Suddenly, the same chill as this morning when he had encountered the ectopus pierced its way up his throat, and a puff of blue mist escaped his mouth. He clapped his hands over it, but was almost instantly distracted by a loud crash. It was coming from the lunchroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> The desire to just have Sam and Tucker punch-a-bully was so strong, but felt out of character considering that the (bad) aesop of one of my favorite episodes, Splitting Images, which I've rewatched like 5 times, is don't punch-a-bully. But in this fandom we beat down canon with a baseball bat and spit on it, do we not? 
> 
> I spent a good bit of time thinking over how I wanted to do my AU's rendition of Mystery Meat, and in the end decided that shoehorning in that canon plot didn't really fit with what I was going for; I wanted to wait a little longer before introducing sentient ghosts, and I felt like the whole thing with the menu change would take away from what I'm trying to do.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello folks, here's your weekly chapter! I swear I'm not double-posting again like last weekend because I want to have the security of at least 2 prewritten chapters at all times, but oh is patience hard. I cannot belive that in year of our lord 2021 I am writing a fanfiction for the 2004 cartoon Danny Phantom, the document for which is currently sitting at 27,000 words and growing. My brain chooses the weirdest things to focus on.

Immediately, Danny jumped up and scrambled out of the stall, dashing into the hallway. What was that? He had to go check it out, at the very least. 

He skidded to a stop at the lunchroom doors, dread coming over him as he saw them closed. They hadn’t been closed before. He gave a forceful tug on the handle, but to no avail. 

He wasn’t the only one who had followed the sound of the commotion. Students and faculty were beginning to gather, some talking to each other in worried tones, others trying to open the doors. 

Principal Ishiyama pushed through the crowd, holding her hands up and raising her voice to be heard above the clamor. “We’re receiving reports that something broke into the building. It’s nothing to be concerned about, but we’re still asking that all students evacuate the premises. Please proceed to the football field in an orderly fashion.” 

If anything, that made the gathered crowd even more agitated. Danny had been pushed away from the doors. He tried in vain to see through the foggy little windows, wanting to catch a glimpse of whatever was going on in there, but he wasn’t tall enough. His worry grew with every passing second. What was going on? What had that crashing been? Sam and Tucker were in there! Were they okay? Was everyone in there okay? 

Faculty members had started herding students away from the door, to many protests. Danny certainly didn’t want to leave. “Find your third period classes, please!”, Principal Ishiyama called. 

Danny had no such intention. He was going to get in there and figure out what the hell was going on. Quietly, he slipped beneath the crowd.  _ Guess there are some advantages to being short,  _ he thought wryly. People were finally beginning to move towards the nearest exit, but Danny crept into a stairwell and waited until the commotion had passed. The chatter and footsteps faded, and Danny came out from where he hid. 

What could he do now, though? He tried the doors again, but they were still sealed tight. He was tempted to knock, try hitting them or something, but that might agitate the… what? Burglar? Shooter? He shuddered at the thought. 

_ There is one way.  _ Danny pushed the thought away without hesitation. He was  _ not  _ going into ghost form, not here, not if he could help it. He did not want to deal with that right now. It was enough seeing his best friends and his parents and that random man on the street this morning be terrified of him; he didn’t want to face those horrified looks from all his peers, too. 

A scream echoed from within the lunchroom. There was a shattering crash, and then a thud. Danny couldn’t recognize the voice, but it was awful all the less. 

People were getting hurt in there. 

Danny’s hands balled into fists at his side, so hard he could feel his too-long nails pierce the skin. He had to do something! 

But was it worth it? 

_ Yes.  _ He could put aside his own feelings if it meant others wouldn’t lose their lives. 

Shaking, he tugged at that little ball of electric cold. The rings flashed, passing before his eyes, and then his hair was white and his clothes were replaced with the smooth, tight jumpsuit that somehow fit far better, far more naturally, than when he had worn it as a human. 

He turned his attention back to the doors. He could go intangible; he knew that from the several accidents. But could he do it on purpose? “Only one way to find out”, he muttered. Trying to recall how it felt, that strange tingling feeling, he closed his eyes and concentrated. He put his hand out, and encountering no resistance, stepped forwards fully. When he opened his eyes again, he was sure enough in the lunchroom. 

The sight that greeted him was somehow worse than he was expecting. Most of the tables were smashed in, walls and windows too. Several students lay unmoving on the ground, while most of the rest were huddled behind beams or the counter. And at the center of all this carnage, a ghostly snake writhed, rampaging through the air as it screeched and crashed into anything it could hit. 

Danny’s first thought was to look for Sam and Tucker; he couldn’t help it. All these people mattered, but they were his friends and he was concerned for them first and foremost. He found them, thankfully seeming mostly unharmed, behind a cracked beam. 

But what could he  _ do?  _ He had to stop it, somehow he had to stop it. But he was just one person, just a  _ kid,  _ and this thing was a monster.  _ Like you,  _ that little ball in his chest hummed. Forcefully, he tamped down the thought. 

The ghost snake seemed to be getting more agitated, throwing itself harder at walls. Alarmingly, the ceiling was beginning to shake, dust raining down. He didn’t have much time to subdue this thing. 

He had to draw it away. He could take it inside, maybe into the air, where it couldn’t cause further property damage or hurt anyone else. 

He whistled loudly and started waving his arms, hoping all the while he wasn’t sealing a death wish. It certainly had the intended effect; the ghost snake whipped its massive head around to stare at Danny, unnaturally red tongue flicking out in a hiss. 

Danny regretted everything. 

“Come and get me”, he squeaked before hauling ass out the shattered window. 

Judging off the echoing shriek that followed him, it seemed the ghost snake had taken the bait. Danny hightailed it towards the street in front of Casper High, checking to make sure it was empty of people before stopping and spinning to face the ghost snake. The snake didn’t stop barreling towards him, and he let out a startled yelp as he just barely skirted its jaws. 

Right. Now that he was here, he had to come up with more of a plan than ‘run away’. Could he punch it like the ectopus? He could punch pretty hard as a ghost, he’d learned that much this morning. Maybe that could stop it.

Gathering himself up, he shot up and aimed for the snake’s head, right for the spot he assumed the bridge of the nose was; he wasn’t sure his lessons on how to best fight a person would really apply to this creature, but it was the best he had to go off. 

Unfortunately, the snake seemed to spot him, lashing its tail and darting downwards. Danny’s momentum took him  _ hard  _ into the wall of one of the buildings. Danny clutched his shoulder and groaned. That hurt _.  _ Although, not as much as he would have expected. Weird. 

The snake, however, was very inconsiderate and gave Danny no time to recover. Its animalistic eyes locked on his and with a hiss it opened his mouth and shot towards him. It was all Danny could do to scramble aside.

It went on like that several more times, the snake lunging and Danny narrowly dodging.  _ This isn’t working,  _ Danny thought. He needed to go on the offensive again. But the snake was just so fast!

Danny was still grasping for a solution when he felt the little ball of cold in his chest hum, and then he could feel energy radiating out, collecting in his fingertips. He looked down to see his hands surrounded by a green glow. He took too long looking, though, and the snake lunged straight towards him, this time clipping his leg. 

Instinctively, Danny threw his hands out. As he did, he felt that gathered energy leap away, forming a concentrated green beam that homed straight for the snake. And it actually hit, causing the snake to stagger for the first time in the fight. 

Danny looked at the snake, then down at his hands, then back to the snake again. “Cool,” he breathed. 

He looked for that feeling again, and was able to call up more of the energy with ease. With more intent, he sent out several blasts, and they worked perfectly. 

Danny barraged the creature. It was effective. The snake could dodge, but the blasts traveled fast and were able to hit it. With each hit, the creature slowed, eyes growing unfocused as globs of a viscous, glowing green substance began to drop away from it. 

As it faltered, it occurred to Danny to wonder what he was going to do about this thing. Should he kill (double kill?) it? He didn’t want to do that. Dangerous as the creature was, it still seemed to have some degree of mind and intent. To kill it would be like shooting an animal. No, he’d find another solution. Simply drive it away? Somehow capture it? Did he really have the means for that? This was all just  _ so much,  _ everything coming at him at once. 

Suddenly, the snake’s head snapped up sharply. Danny jumped back, startled. The snake let out a final, resounding cry before flying past Danny so close the wind ruffled his hair. It then dropped down to the ground, where it began to flatten and melt onto the pavement into that same viscous green substance, dribbling down into the storm drains. A rage-filled squeal echoed down the deserted street, and then Danny was left alone in silence. 

“What. Just. Happened.” Danny said aloud. He forced himself to take a deep breath, if only to steady his racing mind. The rush was fading. Numbly, his eyes set on the globs of… ectoplasm? Scattered along the street. He brought a hand to his arm, and was startled when it came back wet with the goo. Was it the snake’s, or was it… his? 

He couldn’t think about this right now. He hadn’t exactly been having the best day, or the best week for that matter, and everything was just a lot and he needed to take some time to sit and rest and think. 

“Back to school”, he told himself. Unthinkingly, he flew back down to the lunchroom, setting down in the middle of the wreckage. He was about to transform back, but thought the better of it; there were still people in here, undoubtedly still cowering in fear. Fear of him. He didn’t want himself, Danny Fenton, being even remotely associated with his ghost form. 

So, as quickly as he was able, he phased through the still-shut doors. He made a conscious effort to stay on the ground. The halls were still deserted; everyone had evacuated. Danny took the opportunity to duck into an abandoned classroom, transforming back as soon as he was inside. 

The pain hit. It was much sharper than when he had been a ghost, going from a barely-there ache to sharp and stabbing. Mostly it came from his leg. He pulled up the pants leg to see a narrow gash running long down his calf. He could feel several bruises that would no doubt be purple and angry as well. Apparently, some of the ectoplasm had been his, not just the snake’s, because there was red amid the green, mostly coming from his bleeding leg. 

Exhausted, Danny collapsed into a desk. 

\---

When Sam and Tucker had tried to get out, the doors had been shut and not budging; they were trapped. They couldn’t do anything but shelter, hearts pounding, as the room shook with every impact from the snake. 

After that, everything was a blur. It had happened so fast, the ghost that replaced Danny coming in and leading out the snake. The minute Phantom had come in, no one in the lunchroom had moved, Sam and Tucker included; they could hear the fighting outside. Then everything had gone silent, but then Phantom had come back in, battered but still undeniably  _ strong.  _ And dangerous. Everyone held their breath until they felt the presence had left the room. Even so, the fear was strong. 

But once it was all over, Sam’s worried thoughts flashed back to Danny. Where was he? What had happened to him? Phantom, it had gotten itself hurt in whatever weird fight for ghostly dominance it had engaged in. Had it hurt Danny, too?

As soon as she felt safe enough to move, Sam grabbed Tucker’s arm and dragged him towards the lunchroom doors. They had to  _ find him.  _ They needed to know he was okay. 

“You two, where do you think you’re going?”, barked a voice from behind. It was one of the lunch ladies. 

“The bathroom”, Sam growled venomously. She was not going to argue on this. She pushed open the lunchroom doors without looking back. 

The hallway was eerily empty. But she couldn’t feel Phantom’s presence in the way she always could when it was around; that had to mean it had given Danny back. “Danny?” she called. Her voice echoed in the space. 

“Danny?”, Tucker said, following her lead. 

There was no response, but Sam wasn’t deterred.  _ If that ghost did something to him, so help me, I will throttle it with my own bare hands.  _

She started looking into classrooms; they’d be empty. “Check the bathrooms”, she told Tucker. He nodded and headed off. 

“Danny?”, she said again, poking her head into another room. Nothing. Not in the next one she checked either. She let out a frustrated noise from the back of her throat.  _ Where was he?  _

When she pushed open the door to the third classroom she checked, she was greeted with rattling breathing. “Danny!” Sam’s anxiety grew; he sounded hurt. 

He was sitting curled up in a desk in the corner of the room, head in his knees. His hair was a mess, and he had globs of something green on him. Sam ran up to him, eyes wide. “Danny, are you okay?” 

Her friend didn’t respond. “Danny”, Sam said again, this time grabbing his shoulder. “Are you hurt? Did that-” her words turned to a snarl- “ _ ghost  _ hurt you?” 

This time, Danny mumbled something, but Sam couldn’t make it out. 

Sam took a deep breath; she had to calm down. “Are you okay?”, she asked, this time keeping her voice soft. 

Slowly, Danny brought his head up. Faint tearstains ran down his face. He didn’t say anything, only nodded. 

Sam looked him over again. This time, she spotted a dark stain on his lower pants leg. “Danny, are you bleeding?!”, she cried. Her eyes narrowed. “What did that  _ fucking ghost  _ do to you.”

Danny ducked his head. “I- nothing.” 

“Sam?”, a voice drifted in from the hallway. Tucker. “He wasn’t in the bathrooms.” 

“In here, Tucker!”, Sam yelled quickly before turning her attention back to Danny. “You’re bleeding. You need help. Can I see it?” 

Wordlessly, Danny nodded. Carefully, Sam pulled up the pants leg. Danny winced. She tried to be gentle. 

A narrow gash ran most of the way up Danny’s calf, blood steadily dribbling out among the solidifying green globs. What had that ghost  _ done?  _

Tucker ran in through the door. “Danny?”, he asked breathlessly. His eyes landed on the gash, and a queasy look crossed his face. Sam recalled how he didn’t like anything medical. Guess she’d be dealing with this. 

“We need to get you to a doctor, or something”, Sam said, trying to keep her voice level. How bad did a wound need to be to need stitches? 

Danny coughed. “I’m fine, guys. Don’t take me to a doctor.” 

“Are you kidding me?!”

“Just… wrap it up, or something.” 

“No. You need help.” 

“Sam, no”, Dannny said. “How would we explain this?”

“I…” The words died on Sam’s lips. She didn’t have a good rebuff to that. She huffed, pushing to her feet. “Fine. But we at least need to stop the bleeding.”

“Here”, came Tucker’s voice from behind them. Sam looked around. He’d grabbed some craft scissors out of a caddy and began cutting off the bottom of his shirt. 

“Tucker, what are you doing?”, Danny asked. 

“You need it more than me”, Tucker replied. “Besides, crop tops are sexy. The ladies will love it.” Sam snorted. 

Tucker finished cutting and handed the yellow strip off to Sam, keeping his eyes averted. Danny smiled faintly. “Thanks, Tuck.” 

Sam began wrapping up the gash. She had no idea what she was doing, but she did her best to tie it off in a way that would staunch the bleeding. It was crude, but hopefully would help until they could get their hands on some proper gauze. 

“There”, she said, stepping back. 

Danny looked down at it, and then stretched his leg out experimentally. The wrap held. Slowly, he stood up. Tucker turned around and moved to stand by them. 

Sam’s mind turned back to earlier matters. “What happened?”, she asked. “How did you get hurt? And what did the ghost do?” 

“I… you guys won’t believe me”, Danny said, ducking his head. 

“Dude, a ghost snake just wrecked our cafeteria. We’ll believe you”, Tucker said. 

“Fine”, Danny said. “I saw the snake hurting people, went into ghost form, and then fought it.”

Tucker and Sam exchanged a look. They both knew that wasn’t true. Danny  _ said  _ he and the ghost were the same, and Sam wanted to believe him, and it was true there was something off about all this, but Danny wasn’t the ghost. She knew that in some deep-down, primal part of her. 

But neither she nor Tucker had a good way to respond to Danny’s claim. 

“You don’t believe me.” Danny slumped back down into the desk chair. “Of course you don’t.”

“It’s not that we don’t believe you”, Sam said, trying to navigate the situation carefully. Danny was clearly distressed, and she didn’t want to make him feel worse. “It’s just…” 

“We know you can’t be the ghost”, Tucker picked up. 

Danny sighed. “Fine, I’m not the ghost. But… the ghost was trying to help.” 

“No way”, Tucker said. “If you’d have seen it…”

“Hey, I drove away the snake! How is that not helpful?” 

“It was probably trying to prove its dominance or something”, Sam said. “Besides, it could have put people in danger. And it got you hurt.” 

“It was my choice”, Danny said. “Other people were getting hurt. It would have been worse if I hadn’t done anything.” 

“Wait”, Sam said, holding out her hands. “You have influence over Phantom?” 

“Sure”, Danny said, looking defeated. “Let’s go with that.” 

“Could you stop it from being so… cruel, then?”, Sam asked, taking the time to choose her words. 

“He hasn’t done anything!”, Danny said. “Why are you so afraid?” 

“How are you not?” 

Danny sighed, putting his face in his hands. “This conversation isn’t going anywhere. People are probably looking for us; we should get going.” 

Sam and Tucker both gave murmurs of agreement. “You can walk, right?”, Sam asked.

Danny took a few steps, then nodded. “It’s actually starting to feel better.” 

Sam and Tucker flanked Danny’s sides as the trio exited the classroom. Down the hall, they could hear a commotion in the lunchroom. The trio elected to go the other way, descending down the staircase; no doubt they’d be in trouble for running out on the teachers. It had been well worth it, though. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> When I was writing this chapter, I went through like the first three episodes trying to find how Danny's ectoblasts came in but they weren't there??? He just never used the ectoblasts? So I gave up and made up my own interpretation. But last night I was doing some rewatching for the purposes of a separate oneshot I'm writing, and I discovered that Danny doesn't get his ectoblasts until the SIXTH EPISODE. This was just... extremely surprising to me??? And I'm not going back and changing my fic because this story is my house now. 
> 
> Also, I think this is the first chapter I've written without a Tucker perspective somewhere in there. 
> 
> I always appreciate constructive criticism!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I'm back to writing this, so you can continue to expect your regularly scheduled updates. I actually got around to making a full outline for this story! But boyyyy are we in it for the long haul with this one. I plan to record another podfic this weekend, maybe even two, but I haven't quite decided which one yet. I have several cued up that I'm looking to do. But besides that, school has been kicking me hard these past few weeks. Wow. A full load of classes was a choice, wasn't it. Happy reading!

After everything, school had been let out early. The trio had taken the opportunity to meet up and see if they could better treat Danny’s leg. The makeshift wrap had slowed the bleeding somewhat, but it was beginning to soak through, and Danny still adamantly refused to go get actual medical help (not that Tucker could blame him). Danny seemed apprehensive about going back to his house. Tucker would have offered they could go to his own house, but he wasn’t sure he’d have the proper supplies to deal with the injury. Besides, his parents night ask questions. 

“We could go to my place”, Sam offered. 

Danny raised an eyebrow. “You’ve never invited us to your place before.” 

“Well, now’s as good a time as any.” 

“Touche.” 

\---

“You’re  _ rich?!”,  _ Tucker exclaimed, staring up at the hulking, full out  _ mansion  _ they stood in front of. 

Sam grabbed her arm self consciously. “There's really no need to make a big deal of it.” 

“Do you have a bowling alley?”, Tucker asked, ignoring her words. 

“Yeah”, she grumbled. 

“Can we try it?”, Danny asked eagerly. 

“You have a massive wound in your leg!”, Sam exclaimed. 

“So?” 

Sam groaned and facepalmed. “Come on.” She grabbed the boys’ arms and dragged them through the door. 

She brought them up to her bedroom, which was far more like what Tucker had expected from the goth. Dark red curtains blocked out the sunlight, complimenting the deep purple walls. The focal point of the space was the big black wrought-iron bed in the center.

“Lucky for us, my parents are off at some fancy conference or whatever out of state”, Sam said. “Wait here.” She left out the door with a slam. 

Tucker, who had settled himself in a black chair in the corner, turned his head to look at Danny, who sat on the bed. 

“Are you really okay?”, he asked.

Danny let out a laugh. “Tuck,  _ none  _ of this is okay.” 

“Hm.” Tucker nodded. “True.” 

The two both turned their heads at the click of the door opening. “Here we go”, Sam said, reentering the room with her arms full. “The best medical supplies money can buy.” She went over to the bed and dumped a pile of stuff onto it, containing everything from gauze, ointments, and surgical tape to pink band-aids covered in a pattern of puppies. “Fresh from my parents’ medicine cabinet.” 

“Why do your parents even have all this stuff?”, Tucker asked. 

Sam rolled her eyes. “They like to ‘be prepared’.” She put air quotes around the last two words. 

“Hey, at least it’s coming in handy”, Danny said. 

“Hey, question”, Tucker said, raising a hand. “Do any of us know how to use any of this?”

Sam pulled out her cell phone. “That’s what the internet is for.” 

“Well, good luck with that”, Tucker said. “If you need me, I’ll be not looking at the gruesome injury and medical supplies.” He gave finger guns before pulling out his PDA. 

“Some help you are”, Danny joked. 

“Shush”, Sam chastised. “I’m trying to figure out if I need to learn how to administer stitches.”

Danny’s voice went thin. “Stitches?” 

“Are you… qualified for that?”, Tucker asked skeptically. 

“Nope”, she replied. “But that’s a really long gash, and someone is refusing to get qualified medical attention.” Danny harrumphed. 

After a minute, Sam spoke up again. “Ok, we gotta wash it.” 

“I could have told you that”, Danny deadpanned. 

Sam huffed. “Bathroom’s right over here, come on. Tuck?”

“I’ll pass”, Tucker said, not looking up. 

\---

Sam pulled Danny into the en suite and sat him on the lip of the claw-foot bathtub. “This might hurt”, she warned, bending down to roll up Danny’s pants leg and grab the edges of the strip of Tucker’s top she’d tied around it earlier. Danny nodded for her to go on, and Sam untied the knot and began pulling it away. She heard Danny hiss out a sharp breath, but kept going anyway. 

Once it was fully exposed, Sam stepped back to get a good look at it. It didn’t look better, but at least it didn’t look worse. There was a lot of blood, as well as some of that green stuff, but she wouldn’t be able to really make a proper assessment until it was cleaned.

“Alright. Turn around, put your leg in the tub”, Sam prompted, waving a hand. Danny obliged without argument. 

She turned on the water, pulling out the nozzle to run the low stream over the gash. Danny was pretty stoic through it; he winced, but stayed silent and didn’t flinch. The water turned pinkish as it ran down the drain. After a few minutes, the wound seemed pretty clean, far as Sam could tell. 

“You good?”, Sam checked. 

Danny nodded. “Yeah.” 

“You can turn back around now.” 

Once he had done so, Sam took another good look at the leg. All things considered, it looked a lot better than she had been expecting. Long, but narrow, and not bleeding too much. Weirdly, it seemed that flecks of that green stuff were  _ in  _ the blood, not just mixed with it. Was it related to the ghost and its weird ties to Danny? Sam made a note to look into it later. 

“I think it’d be best if we just dry it off and cover it”, Sam said, more to herself than Danny. She grabbed one of her parents’ nice monogrammed towels which they  _ insisted  _ she use (she’d always hated those towels) and began using it to pat the injury dry, taking some glee in dirtying the articles like this. Once she deemed it sufficiently dry, she grabbed some gauze pads and tape, fashioning what she hoped was a sufficient bandage. 

“There you go”, Sam said, stepping back and brushing her hands off. 

Danny looked down, flexed the leg a bit, then stood up. “Thanks, Sam”, he said, sounding surprised. “This is actually a really good job.” 

Sam grinned. “The power of WikiHow.”

Danny let out a chuckle. He jabbed a thumb towards the door. “Shall we?” 

\---

Tucker looked up at the creak of the bathroom door to see Danny and Sam coming out. Danny seemed surprisingly okay for a guy who's leg had been covered in  _ that much blood- _ But Tucker had to give props for his strength. 

“All good, then?”, Tucker asked, pushing up his glasses. 

“Yep”, Sam replied. Danny gave a thumbs up. 

A minute of awkward silence stretched between the three until Sam broke it. “So… are we going to talk about what happened today?” 

Tucker leaned forward. “Shit’s weird, man.” He hummed. “Is it just me, or does the ghost attacking our school just a few days after we did… something to Danny’s parents’ ghost portal and the whole ghost-that-replaces-Danny thing starting to feel like a bit more than just a coincidence?” 

“My parents did say the portal was supposed to lead to a ghost dimension”, Danny said. “Could it be, like, letting ghosts through into our town or something?”

“I mean, it’s just one ghost”, Sam countered. “And we can’t even be sure that thing that attacked our school was a ghost at all.”

Danny rubbed a hand to the back of his neck. “It’s not just one. I… I saw another ghost on my way to school.” 

Tucker and Sam’s eyes shot wide as they both turned to stare at Danny. “What?”, Tucker exclaimed. 

“Why didn’t you say something?”, Sam asked. 

“...some other stuff happened with my ghost form”, Danny mumbled, the words barely audible. “I just… didn’t want to talk about it.” 

Sam and Tucker exchanged a look. Tucker decided it would probably be best to stay off the subject of Phantom. 

“You’re sure it was a ghost?”, Tucker asked. 

“Oh, it was definitely a ghost”, Danny replied, seeming relieved at the shift away from talk of Phantom. “So was that snake. My parents made  _ very  _ sure—” Danny rolled his eyes— “that I knew how to identify them.” 

Tucker snapped his fingers. “Your parents! They might be able to help with all this.”

Danny threw out his hands. “No way. They get  _ weird  _ about all this stuff.” 

“Your choice”, Tucker shrugged. 

Sam, who had had her head down in thought, looked up with a grin. “But who says we can’t do it ourselves?”

Oh no. Sam had her ‘idea’ look. 

Danny quirked an eyebrow. “Come again?” 

“You know, do our own research, maybe even ‘borrow’ some of their equipment. Figure out what’s going on, deal with the ghosts.”

Slowly, a grin came over Danny’s face as well. “That’s actually a good idea!”

Oh no. When Sam and Danny both got into an idea, there was no escape. Tucker was getting dragged into this whether he wanted to or not. 

“Tucker?”, Sam asked, looking to him expectantly. 

“Why not.” He sighed, resigning himself to whatever they were about to get into next. 

\---

Danny still seemed reluctant to go to his house, but he couldn’t avoid it forever. Besides, as Sam put it, “Hey, it’s better you go with us for support than alone, right?” 

So they’d agreed they’d all go to Danny’s house and see what they could learn about ghosts. By virtue of school being let out early, it was only early afternoon, so they’d have plenty of time. 

Now, they stood on Danny’s doorstep, Danny standing still and wringing his hands nervously. Tucker wasn’t sure what exactly he was so nervous  _ about,  _ but nevertheless put a hand on his friend’s shoulder to give it a comforting squeeze. 

Danny pulled in a deep breath before pushing the front door open. They were greeted with an empty living room. Mr. and Mrs. Fenton were no doubt still down in the lab; the noises emanating from the door made that abundantly clear. Jazz was nowhere to be seen either. 

All three friends moved into the house, and Danny shut the door. Sam clapped her hands together. “Should we go down to the lab, then?”

Danny paled at the suggestion. Tucker himself shuddered, remembering what had happened just a few days before. Sam seemed to pick up on the reaction and quickly backpedaled. “...or maybe your parents have some research we could look into?” She looked at Danny expectantly. 

Danny nodded. “Uh, yeah. They keep some of their research journals in their room. I can go grab some. You guys can head to the guest room, down that hall.” He pointed. “My room’s still being repaired after… this weekend.” Sam and Tucker nodded and the trio headed off. 

A few minutes later, they all sat around the guest room, several extremely thick journals with loose papers sticking out all over them sitting in Danny’s arms. 

“Wow”, Tucker said. “Your folks really get into it.”

Danny snorted. “You have no idea.” He set the journals down and handed them out. “This oughtta be fun.” 

The three opened their journals and began reading. After only five minutes Tucker already had a headache. Whichever of Danny’s parents had been writing in this one had terrible handwriting, and there was no organization whatsoever. Notes were scrawled in margins, and hastily scribbled diagrams which Tucker couldn’t make anything of littered the pages.

Finally, Danny groaned and banged his head back against the bed’s headboard. “This is getting nowhere. I can’t understand any of this.”

“Seconded”, Tucker said quickly. 

Sam sighed, closing the journal she was reading. “Alright. This was a bad idea.” 

“Maybe we  _ should  _ just go ask your parents”, Tucker said. 

“They are always eager to talk about this stuff”, Sam agreed. Many a time had the Fentons dragged them all down to the lab and ranted about ghosts. The trio rarely paid attention, but the sentiment was certainly there. 

Danny fidgeted a bit. “I don’t know… are you sure we should go down there?” It seemed like he was leaving something unsaid, but Tucker couldn’t think what. 

“It’ll help us learn more about ghosts”, Sam said, standing up. “Come on.” Tucker stood too, and after a few moments, Danny did so as well. But their friend’s reluctance was clear. 

Sam’s gaze softened. “Is it the ghosts you’re afraid of?” 

Danny burst out laughing, startling Tucker. “You’re sort of right, but also way off,” he said. Tucker and Sam exchanged a confused look. 

“Never mind,” Danny said, his laughter stopping. “I… I guess I’m ready. Let’s go.” Danny led the way out the door. 

“What was that?” Sam mouthed to Tucker. He just shrugged and followed Danny. 

They made their way over to the lab door, which Danny quickly keyed open. The instant he did, Tucker could feel the distinct chill, like the temperature had all of a sudden dropped 20 degrees. 

“Mom? Dad?” Danny called down. 

“Danny-boy!” came Mr. Fenton’s exuberant cry. 

“What is it, sweetie?” Mrs. Fenton said in her more level voice. 

Danny rubbed the back of his neck. “I, uh, was just wondering if my friends and I could come down?” 

“Of course!”, said Mr. Fenton. Slowly, Danny began to make his way down the staircase. Tucker could see his apprehension rising. Tucker’s own apprehension was slowly ticking up as well. There was something distinctly wrong in the air, different from all the times he’d been down here before. 

The lab was a mess, even more jumbled than usual, with tens of different inventions spread across the tables and vials of green strewn about. At the end of it all was the portal, that portal that had started this entire ordeal. It was like the epicenter of the chaos, the lines of machines radiating from all around it. 

“Jack, close the portal while the kids are down here”, Mrs. Fenton called, not looking up from the something she was welding. Mr. Fenton quickly got up from where he sat and, wading through the sea of chrome, slammed his hand down on the big red button next to the portal, causing two black-and-yellow striped doors to close over the swirling green. The wrongness in the air eased, if only a bit. 

Danny scuffed a foot against the paneled floor. “So, uh, I was wondering if you could maybe tell us about ghosts?” 

“Tell you about ghosts?”, Mr. Fenton said, his face lighting up. “You’re finally taking an interest in the family business!” 

Danny threw his hands out. “No! I mean, yes. I mean-” 

Mr. Fenton paid no attention to Danny’s spluttering, instead pulling out three chairs from god-knows-where and setting them up in a row. “Take a seat, kids! I could just talk for hours about this…” 

“What have we gotten ourselves into”, Sam whispered to Danny and Tucker. All three sat down. 

“What do you want to know?”, Mr. Fenon asked eagerly. “I could tell you about how to dissect a ghost, the best places to shoot a ghost, how to tear one apart…”

With each word, more color drained from Danny’s face. Tucker supposed that made some sense; it seemed when Phantom got hurt so did Danny, and if the creature decided to replace him at the wrong time or throw itself into more danger, it would not end well. 

Sam jumped in. “How about just the basics?” 

Mr. Fenton nodded. “Of course! Ghosts are ectoplasmic manifestations of post-human consciousness, driven by obsessions. They’re echoes, shells of a being. As far as we can tell, the real ghost is just their core; it’s like their brain, except they don’t really think. Then that is surrounded by an envelope of ectoplasm.” Mr. Fenton slid over to a table and grabbed one of the bubbling vials. “That’s this stuff here. It takes a form based on their emotions. Ghosts don’t feel or think; they’re not sentient beings. Can’t feel pain, either. Sometimes they like to imitate humanity, but it’s all fake. They’re all dangerous monsters, menaces to society that ultimately want to cause harm to humanity.”    
  


Mr. Fenton grinned. “And that’s why we’re studying them, and developing better ways to fight them, and eventually eradicate them. Like this here!” He reached over and grabbed a cylindrical container off a table. “This is the Fenton Thermos! It captures ghosts, so they can’t escape.” Mr. Fenton shook it a little. “At least, it’s supposed to. We’re still working out the kinks.” 

At that moment, Tucker noticed Danny was shaking beside him, knuckles going white as he gripped the edges of the chair. 

Tucker reached out. “Could we see it?”, he asked. He was genuinely interested in the technology, but he said it more as a way to get Mr. Fenton to stop talking. Something was clearly distressing Danny. 

Mr. Fenton nodded and tossed the thermos to Tucker, who caught it clumsily. 

“Thank you so much, Mr. Fenton”, Sam said, standing. “I think we’re going to go now, but we’ll definitely be back to hear more soon!” She grabbed Danny’s hand and pulled him up. 

“Come back any time!”, Mr. Fenton said. 

“It was nice seeing you, kids”, Mrs. Fenton said. She had kept on working through the conversation. 

Tucker nodded and moved to Danny’s other side, and the three left the lab.

\---

Danny’s breathing came fast as his thoughts raced. He only numbly registered Sam and Tucker leading him out of the lab. 

_ Dangerous. Monsters.  _

He’d heard all of his parents’ theories of ghosts countless times before, but had never really given them much thought, or even really formed his own opinion. But hearing them now, knowing he was one… 

_ They don’t really think. _

He wasn’t a monster, he knew he wasn’t! He was the same person, he was, he  _ was…  _ Tears stung at his eyes. He could still think, he still had a mind and thoughts-

_ They don’t feel. They can’t feel pain.  _

He was still  _ human,  _ he could still feel his heart, his pulse, his lungs working breaths in and out. He felt the air around him, the sting of his leg and the little bruises from earlier. He could feel his emotions, they were  _ real,  _ he wasn’t a lie, he wasn’t an imitation-

_ They’re echoes. Shells _ . 

No, no, he was the same, he was a  _ person,  _ he was still whole, he wasn’t just an echo, a remnant, a fragment-

_ They’re menaces. They want to cause harm to humanity.  _

He didn’t want to hurt anyone! He was still him, still Danny, he wouldn’t hurt anyone, he knew who he was… 

_ Eradicate them. _

Danny slumped to the floor, everything becoming too much. He wasn’t a monster, he wasn’t a monster, he  _ wasn’t a monster…  _

_ But you are _ , the spot of cold crouched in his chest hummed. And then he felt the dreaded wash of electric-cold he was beginning to recognize. 

He barely heard his friends’ screams. He barely heard anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I shift around the canon timeline a bit, but it's fine. It's always fun to write those more casual trio interactions. 
> 
> I always appreciate constructive criticism, so if you have any advice or corrections feel free to leave it below!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's this week's chapter! Sorry it's a bit shorter than usual. The next few weeks' chapters are more up to speed. This one just didn't have a ton to fit in. 
> 
> You know, one of the reasons this is getting so long is because I am constantly getting sidetracked from my actual list of plot points that I wish to get through. This is going to end up the length of, like, two novels. 
> 
> I am still trying to edit last weekend's podfic, It's just taking a long time, even moreso than usual. But I'm almost done! It should be up soon. Then I really want to get to work on at the very least recording Souls are Fragile (getting to it has been taking far too long). Anyway, happy reading!

“Oh god, what happened?”, Tucker shrieked, leaping back as the white rings crashed over Danny, leaving only Phantom. 

Sam pressed against the wall, eyes scanning frantically for a solution. “Hurting Phantom hurts Danny, we know that now, so we can’t hurt it,” she said shakily, trying to keep her voice low to not provoke the ghost. “You still have that Fenton whatever, does it work?” 

Tucker quickly shook it around a little, then uncapped it and peered inside. “I don’t think it does”, he said, panic in his voice rising. 

“We have to run, then”, Sam said. Tucker nodded. 

And they were about to, when a pounding came from behind the lab door just down the hall. Mr. and Mrs. Fenton burst out, ecto-weapons in hand.  _ Shit.  _

“Where’s the ghost?”, Mr. Fenton asked, looking to Mrs. Fenton, who held that same ghost tracker from Saturday.

Sam’s mind raced, weighing the options. It wasn’t safe for anyone to stay near Phantom, but it held Danny’s well being on the line. They couldn’t let the Fentons hurt it, but she and Tucker had to stay alive as well. 

Her eyes snapped back to Phantom, still crumpled on the floor just as Danny had been. Its imitation of vulnerability was so  _ humanlike _ . She could almost pity it, had it not been so dangerous. Had it not hurt Danny.

Quickly, Sam grabbed Tucker’s arm and pulled him in front of the ghost. The ever-present atmosphere of fear was unmistakable, but perhaps they could hide it long enough for it to escape. Protecting it, protecting it  _ again,  _ was such a gamble. But it was a gamble they had to take.

“It’s this way”, Mrs. Fenton said, voice hard. 

“Have either of you seen it?”, Mr. Fenton asked, uncharacteristically serious as the two ghost hunters came up to the shaking teens. 

“N-nope”, Tucker squeaked. 

“It says the ghost is right here”, Mrs. Fenton said. 

“We-”, Sam started. 

“Kids, you need to move aside. This is a matter of lives”, Mr. Fenton said. His tone was frighteningly steely, so unlike him. With no further ado, Sam and Tucker were pushed aside, leaving the ghost’s horrible form fully exposed. Although Sam supposed it wasn’t really exposed; it could kill them all in as little as a thought. 

“Ghosts won’t endanger our home”, Mrs. Fenton said, holding out her ectogun. It began to whirr as its green blast charged. 

And in that moment, Sam knew she couldn’t let it happen. 

It took every ounce, every smallest bit of Sam’s willpower to force herself to launch her body forward. She was going to die, this was going to get her killed, the ghost was going to kill her,  _ why was she doing this-  _

Her body slammed into the ghost’s, sending them both rolling out of the way of the blast. The ghost abruptly sucked in a breath-  _ why was it breathing-  _ causing Sam to scramble back, trying to put distance between herself and the monster. And for a moment, a shocked silence held the hallway. 

Then Tucker was running over to her, across the smoking crater in the middle of the floor created by the ectogun’s blast, grabbing her and pulling her away. Sam gripped him, heart pounding with the weight of what she had just done. The Fentons raised their weapons again. “Get back!”, Mrs. Fenton screamed at Sam and Tucker. 

The ghost opened shockingly green eyes to look at the four humans before it disappeared. 

“Where’d it go?”, Mr. Fenton said, eyes narrowing as he whipped his weapon around. 

“We’ll find it”, Mrs. Fenton said coldly. 

Sam and Tucker both were way too shocked to respond, just watching as the Fentons shouldered their weapons and ran out the front door. 

“Wh- where’d it go?”, Tucker asked quietly. Sam knew he was referring to the ghost. She could only barely feel its presence anymore. Where had it gone? Where had it taken Danny? 

Sam just shook her head. “We can’t stay in this hallway.” Tucker nodded, and the two headed back into the guest bedroom. 

“Should we… look for it, or something?”, Tucker asked once they had softly shut the door. There was a heaviness in the air, but at the same time a certain sharpness to everything as Sam’s mind raced back over what she’d  _ done.  _ She was never one to second-guess herself, but to get that close to that creature… it was probably hunting them as they spoke. 

Then it appeared. 

Sam and Tucker both screamed, loudly, as the ghost’s form flickered into existence in front of them. It looked at them, all its menace in those haunting green eyes, lips slightly parted. 

It didn’t speak, only watching as Sam went ramrod-straight, and Tucker pressed himself flatter to the wall across from her. 

Phantom drooped. “You don’t recognize me? Even a little?” Neither Sam nor Tucker said a word.  _ It’s come back for us,  _ Sam thought. Her eyes darted around the room, though she was careful to keep her head still, as she looked for anything she could fight with, trying to plan escape routes. If she could smash the creature with that potted plant… 

“You don’t”, Phantom said in a terrifyingly accurate imitation of defeat. It floated down and lightly set its feet on the floor. “I just thought…” Its head turned down, and it gripped its arms across its chest. It stood there, looking crushed, for a long while. Sam began inching closer to the plant, getting ready to make a stand and run. 

She stopped when the ghost’s voice came, soft and subdued. “Well, um… look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to change.” The ghost snorted. “Trust me, I’d never go into ghost form again if I could help it. So I’ll just stop talking and switch back now."

\---

Danny shut his eyes, trying to reach for that _human_ part of him, laying curled and dormant deep in his chest. He could feel it, right there, and tried to grasp it as he had those times he had voluntarily transformed. But it was hard, somehow more distant than those times before. Meanwhile, the cold part (was it his… core? Like his parents had called it? No, no, _don’t think about that…_ ) pulsed steadily, strongly, filling his being. “Human”, he murmured, repeating the word. _Focus._ A minute passed. Another. 

“Come on!”, Danny said. He couldn’t help the frustrated exclamation, even though he knew it would scare Sam and Tucker. He held out his hands in front of him, turning them over and over. They were still gloved, still the hands of a ghost, of a  _ monster… _

“No, no no no”, he muttered. “Come on! I’m not… I know I’m not…” He was sure had he been human he’d be hyperventilating. He shut his eyes again, reaching back down. He had to be human again, he couldn’t be stuck like this, he wasn’t going to be stuck like this-

Something in him  _ snapped,  _ and a flash passed before his eyes. 

Danny fell to the floor. It was the worn carpet he’d vacuumed a hundred different times, the little threads nearly flat by now, instead of cold tile like the hallway. 

“Oh, dude”, Tucker said. His tone dripped with relief. Sam came forward and held out a hand. Danny automatically reached out to grab it. She gripped it tightly and pulled him up with a little more force than he expected, causing him to stumble forward. Both of his friends caught him. 

“Take it easy”, Tucker said. They led him back to the bed and sat on either side of him. Danny gripped their hands. He knew he was probably grasping them a little too hard, but after what had just happened he needed it. He needed it to ground him, to remind him… 

He was human. They had no reason to be scared. 

_ But they do,  _ hummed his core, sitting right by his heart like a stone. 

Danny let out a long breath. Breath. He was breathing, he had to do that. He was human. “I… I’m still me.” 

“What?”, Sam asked. 

“Nothing”, Danny said, shaking his head. It wasn’t like he could talk about it. Not with anyone. They wouldn’t understand, and he knew that wasn’t their fault, he knew that. But that didn’t make it hurt any less. 

\---

“So…” Tucker let out a long breath, not quite sure how to work up a conversation from here. “That… didn’t go great.” 

“No shit”, Sam said with a derisive snort. Danny pressed a bit closer. 

“But hey!”, Tucker said, jumping off the edge of the bed. “At least we got this.” He bent down to pick up the Fenton Thermos, which he had at some point dropped, and held it up with a flourish. 

Sam raised an eyebrow. “Which helps us how?” 

Tucker lowered the metal cylinder. “It’s… supposed to capture ghosts?” 

“Something it did so well earlier”, Sam said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. 

“Maybe it needs to be charged?” 

“My parents _would_ forget to charge it”, Danny said with a snort. 

Tucker turned the thermos over, looking for any sort of charging port they may have missed. He found none. 

“Can I see it?”, Danny asked. He was looking a little less… traumatized, which Tucker took as a good sign. Tucker gave a nod and tossed it to Danny, who reached out to catch it. When his fingers brushed the thermos, Danny suddenly shivered, and it slipped through his grasp to a muffled landing in the rumpled sheets. 

“Nice catch”, Sam teased. Danny didn’t seem to hear, his eyes locking on the thermos. 

“You good?”, Tucker asked, taking a step towards him. 

“Yeah, yeah…”, Danny said, trailing off. “It just, like, shocked me or something. It was  _ really  _ weird.” 

Sam made a noise in the back of her throat. “Let me see.” She reached across Danny’s lap to grab the thermos. Hefting it into her grasp, she turned it over once, then uncapped it. “Nothing.” 

“Weird”, Tucker echoed. 

Danny took the thermos from Sam, and Tucker moved back to sit on his other side. “This thing feels…” He trailed off, shivering again. 

“Hm.”

“Doesn’t work, though”, Sam said. “Not useful, at least for now.” 

“But we did learn some stuff about ghosts”, Tucker offered. Immediately, he knew he had said something wrong. Danny shrunk back, breathing picking up quicker. 

“Danny?”, Sam asked, turning concerned eyes to her friend. 

“That stuff was probably wrong”, Danny muttered. “My parents have never even seen a ghost.” 

“But they’re still the world's premier ghost experts”, Sam said. 

“Yeah, I’m sure at least some of it’s usable”, Tucker assured.

“No no no”, Danny said frantically, shaking his head and bringing a hand to cover his face. Tucker exchanged a confused look with Sam. What was Danny getting upset about?

A look of realization dawned on Sam’s face. She brought a hand down to squeeze Danny’s. “Are you scared of that ghost? The one that keeps replacing you? We’ll figure out a way to get rid of it.” 

At this, tears began to gather in Danny’s eyes. Tucker and Sam exchanged another look. How had Sam’s words made him feel worse?

“We’re here for you”, Tucker offered weakly. He wanted to help, but really had no idea how to do so. Danny didn’t respond. 

All three heads shot up at the sound of heavy footsteps and the slam of a door. “My parents…”, Danny breathed, the color draining from his face. 

The Fentons’ voices drifted in through the guest room’s door; the two were clearly speaking loudly, and the guest room was pretty close to the living room, so Tucker could easily make out what they were saying. 

“We’ll get it next time, Mads.” The voice was Mr. Fenton’s. 

There was a heavy sigh. “I know, Jack. It’s just so… annoying that that ghost slipped through our fingers! We had it right there, too!” 

“Well, we have plenty of time. And just imagine when we actually get it! We can tear it apart, molecule by molecule.” There was relish in the words. 

“Or we could just blow that ectoplasmic scum right off the face of the Earth”, Mrs. Fenton said, sounding more upbeat. After a pause, there was the sound of more footsteps, then the click of another door opening. They had probably gone down to the lab. The trio was left in silence. 

Danny silently lowered his face into his hands. Tucker gave his shoulder a squeeze. He supposed it made sense why Danny would be upset by what they’d just heard his parents say. If his parents hurt Phantom, they’d hurt him as well. It... wasn’t ideal. 

“Hey”, Sam said, breaking the silence. “How about we have a movie night? We could, like, order in pizza or something.”

Tucker jumped on the idea. Doing something normal in all this would be great; he sure needed it. Just a couple of hours to hang out and ignore all the crazy ghost stuff. 

“That sounds great! As long as we’re not watching one of your indie horror films.” 

Sam reached back to grab a pillow and whack Tucker. “They’re art!” Tucker broke down laughing, leading to further feather-filled assault. 

“So, how about it?”, Tucker asked, turning to Danny once Sam relented. 

Danny smiled softly. “I’d like that.” 

Fifteen minutes later, they were all spread over the Fentons’ living room couch, having formed a complete nest of blankets and pillows dragged out from a closet. On the coffee table in front of them was a large bowl of microwave popcorn. Sam had ordered a pizza- well, two pizzas, because she refused to admit that meat was supreme. Tucker was presently flipping through the stack of DVDs he’d dragged out of the Fentons’ cabinet. 

“Alright, let’s see what we have here”, Tucker said. “Ooh, a Harry Potter box set.” 

“Nah”, Sam said. Danny shrugged. 

“Casper the Friendly Ghost?” 

“No!”, Sam and Danny cried in unison. 

“I’m kidding! Okay… the live-action Avatar movie?” Tucker started laughing. “Why do you guys have this on DVD?” 

“For reasons I cannot fathom, my dad actually likes that insult to one of the finest shows of our generation”, Danny said. Sam snorted. 

“Hmm…” Tucker stopped as he looked at the title of the next move in the stack. “Oho, that’s it. We’re watching this.”

“Oh no…”, Sam started. 

With a flourish, Tucker held the case up. “The Bee Movie!” Danny began to laugh hysterically, while Sam looked mortified. “Behold, the best piece of cinema ever created.” 

“The lady falls in love with a fucking  _ bee _ ”, Sam said. “We’re not watching that!”

Tucker turned to Danny, waggling his eyebrows. “So, what do you say?” 

“We’re definitely watching it.” 

“Hah!”, Tucker cried, pointing at Sam. “You’re outnumbered.” 

Sam smacked her face into a pillow, voice coming out muffled when she spoke. “The things I do for you guys.” 

Tucker high-fived Danny before jumping off the couch to put the disc in the DVD player, grabbing the remote before settling back down beside his friends. And, if for only a few hours, they were all able to push out of their minds the sheer amount of crap they had been through that day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> One scene in here I wrote from two different perspectives because I couldn't decide which one I wanted. I'm excellent at choices. 
> 
> I have a really weird relationship with using Sam's perspective. Like, I have clear purposes for using Tucker's and Danny's perspectives, but there's really very little Sam's perspective can do that Tucker's can't, so I only end up using it in very certain scenes or situations.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I say that I update on weekends, but I really just update on Fridays because I have -2 shreds of patience. But hey, at least I'm consistent. As promised, this chapter isn't so short as last week's. Hope y'all enjoy!

The next day, Danny walked up the steps of Casper High, searching the crowd for Sam and Tucker. Because, of course, school waits for no one. They wouldn’t cancel over something as small as a gigantic ghost snake wrecking a significant proportion of the school. They were passing off all the accounts of the two ghosts as ‘trauma-induced delusions’ and blaming the damages on a tragic structural failure. The American School System, folks. 

He hadn’t had any… ghost issues last night, or since. Just hanging out had really helped his mood, though. No talk of ghosts, no worries about people fearing him or his parents shooting at him. And he had once again been able to wake up as himself, which he took as a sign that perhaps he was exerting better control? Nevertheless, a little lump of anxiety remained at the back of his mind. 

That morning, Danny had gotten up early again (a struggle every time; he had no idea how Jazz was a morning person). He wanted to change the dressing on his leg like Sam had instructed him to before anyone got up enough to catch him. He’d cautiously unwrapped the bandage in the bathroom (after making sure the door was locked no less than five times), but to his surprise, the wound was looking much better.

The pain had certainty faded over the night, but Danny had just chalked that up to the ointment and three Advils he’d popped last night. But the appearance matched; not only had it stopped bleeding, but the skin was beginning to pucker and seal, the scab small. Now, Danny was no medical expert, but this seemed to be healing a lot faster than something like this normally would. He shrugged it off; he wasn’t going to complain about his luck.

(It was just luck. Nothing more). 

He spotted Tucker’s red cap sticking out in the crowd and made his way over. Tucker was looking down at his PDA as he walked, and didn’t notice Danny until he came right up and tapped him on the shoulder. 

“Oh!” Tucker startled, then relaxed when he saw Danny. “Hey, dude.”

“What’re you working on?”, Danny asked, peering over his friend’s shoulder. 

“Tetris”, Tucker said with a smirk. 

Sam sidled up to them. “There you guys are.” She settled into a walk on Danny’s other side, then turned her head up to look at the school. She let out a low whistle. “That… somehow looks worse than yesterday.” 

Danny nodded. It was weird to see the school damaged like this. He supposed the construction  _ had  _ always been shoddy (Sam suspected it hadn’t been inspected since the 50s, and Danny would not at all be surprised if that was true). At least they were already starting rebuilding; it shouldn’t be too long until everything was back to normal. 

At the thought, Danny couldn’t help but feel a little prick of uncertainty as he all of a sudden became acutely aware of the little cold spot in his chest (his core? No, ghosts had cores. He wasn’t a ghost, not really). Could things really go back to normal? Would they ever?

“Dude, you okay?” 

Danny blinked and saw Tucker waving a hand in front of his face. Danny gave his head a shake, blinking a few more times. “Yeah… yeah, I’m fine.” 

Neither of his friends seemed really convinced; the concerned look they subtly exchanged didn’t escape Danny’s notice. He plastered on a halfhearted smile. “Really guys, I’m fine.”

“...if you say so”, Sam said doubtfully. 

\---

Everything was going pretty well until second period. But Tucker had to say, he’d been hoping that there would be at least a little more of a break between disasters. 

He was in computer science, a class he honestly enjoyed. The teacher was pretty chill, and although Tucker knew most of the stuff they were learning, sometimes he still picked things up. Sam and Danny were of course not in this class with him. Danny would probably be bored out of his mind (Tucker loved his friend, but he was no techno-geek), and this was about as far from Sam’s interests as you could get. 

Tucker was in the process of picking away at his pencil eraser when the fire alarm began blaring. More than a few of the students jumped, and one screamed. Tucker himself dropped the pencil as his head shot up. 

“Is there a fire drill today?”, someone whispered. 

“Must be”, someone else muttered, though they didn’t sound so sure of their reply. 

The teacher cleared his throat. “Please line up in an orderly fashion!”, he called. It did little to quiet the class. Tucker stood, grabbing his backpack. The staff always said to get out fast and leave everything behind, but honestly, who would do that? He had about 200 dollars worth of expensive gadgets in here, and he valued every one of them.

Besides, it was more than likely just a false alarm. Some inattentive teacher had probably just gotten distracted and burnt their microwave popcorn. Again. 

The class filed out into the hall, spilling together with the crowd. Tucker only half paid attention. Idly, he scanned for Danny and Sam. He didn’t think he’d find them; their classes were on different floors. 

The shrill scream of the still-going fire alarm coupled with the disorganized mass of teenagers flooding the halls and stairways made for a pretty chaotic environment. Tucker was unsurprised when he lost sight of his class. Shrugging to himself, he followed along with the wave of the crowd; He knew the general direction of where he was going. He’d just find them once he got out there. 

Somehow, he spotted Sam’s black ponytail bobbing among the heads. He must have gotten really off track if he’d crossed her path. Or maybe she’d gotten off track? Tucker mused on it a second before beginning to elbow his way over. 

“Oh, hey Tuck”, Sam said casually as he got closer. She stood up a little on her toes, trying to peer over the crowd. “Seen Danny?” 

Tucker shook his head. “Nope.”

“Bummer.” 

They made their way out of the building, conversing lightly to fill the time. Sam somehow got into one of her rants, this one on the issues of the school’s emergency protocols. Tucker nodded along. She was technically right, he supposed, but he wasn’t going to complain about free time off classes. 

Finally, they found themselves at an exterior door. Unfortunately, it was on the opposite side of the school that they needed to be at. Tucker clicked his tongue, shaking his head in mock disapproval. “They really do need better signs.” 

“That’s what I’ve been saying!”, Sam exclaimed. “Along with better construction, better food offerings, better humane practices, better accommodations…” She listed each reform off on her fingers. 

The list continued, Tucker zoning out, until a flicker of green, almost too fast to catch, passed in the corner of his eye. He stopped dead. There was something… not quite familiar. Wrong, maybe that would be the right word for it. Something  _ deeply  _ wrong about it. “Uh, Sam?” He tapped his friend’s shoulder. 

“Huh?” Sam turned and looked up. She’d really gotten into this one. 

Tucker bit his lip, lowering his voice ever so slightly. Not that he really had anything to worry about; the people all around made a clamor that easily drowned out individual conversations. “I think I saw something…” 

“Ghosts?”, Sam hissed, her voice barely a whisper. 

Tucker nodded. 

Sam groaned. “Shit.” She brought a hand to her temple. “Do you think it’s Phantom?”   


Tucker shook his head. “No. I didn’t get a good look, but it didn’t seem like Phantom to me. It looked… bigger. And the colors were off.”

“We gotta go investigate.”

Tucker gave Sam an incredulous look. “Please tell me you’re kidding. In what circumstance is running towards the danger a good idea?” 

Sam’s face turned dead serious as she locked her eyes with Tucker’s. “What if Phantom goes to fight that thing, like it did with the snake?” 

Tucker’s blood ran cold. He hadn’t even considered that Phantom might put his friend in danger again. And as much as he knew running towards a dangerous ghost was a terrible idea—he didn’t even need the instinctual fear to tell him that—Danny might need their help. 

“Let’s go”, he said. 

Sam nodded, and the two made their way to the edge of the crowd, still moving steadily towards the football field, and crouched behind a tree until the footsteps faded. Then Sam stood up and asked, “Where did you see it? The ghost.”

Tucker pointed around the corner and led the way towards the front edge of the school grounds, keeping a wary eye out all the way for anything green or glowing. But he didn’t even have to see it before he  _ felt  _ the presence. 

Sam tensed beside him, her hands clenching into white-knuckled fists. Tucker faltered to a stop. He looked over to Sam, meeting her eyes in a look that said “you feel it?” He knew her unspoken response was yes. 

There wasn’t much cover here; they were by one of the little courtyards students could go out to eat lunch in. There were a couple of benches, some trash cans, and a pitiful little sapling in a planter. The paved area was surrounded by a waist-high chain-link fence. Scanning around, Tucker still couldn’t see the ghost. That just made it worse. 

Then that terrible shout rang out. 

“Just show yourself already! I know you’re here, so can we just get this over with?” 

Tucker exchanged a frantic look with Sam before they both jumped the fence and dove for cover, Tucker behind a trash can while Sam ducked beneath a nearby bench. Their attempts to hide were laughable really, but Tucker couldn't think of anything else they could do. 

Phantom flew around the corner and into view, floating there in all its cruel power. It was all Tucker could do to try to stay still. A little corner of his mind tried to tell him  _ It’s just Danny, he’s the ghost!  _ But Tucker knew that wasn’t true. The monster had replaced their friend again. He wasn’t safe. No one was safe.

“Seriously?”, Phantom grumbled, making a slow circle in the air. “I don’t want to be like this any longer than I have to.” Its voice sounded annoyed. Was it trying to get Sam and Tucker to pity it, come out for it to pick off with ease? 

Out of nowhere, the ghost snake popped into view. Tucker couldn’t help his surprised yelp, but clapped his hands to his mouth immediately after. Sam’s eyes snapped to his as he did, alarm swirling through her gaze. Thankfully, Phantom too seemed surprised by the ghost snake’s abrupt appearance to notice either human. 

“There you are!”, Phantom cried, a green energy beginning to gather around its gloves. Oh god, was it getting  _ more powerful? _

Tucker cowered fearfully as Phantom began raining blows upon the other ghost, which fought back fiercely, letting out terrible screeches all the while. Tucker just wanted it to end. Why had he come here? Why had he thought going towards a ghost could end in anything but his own destruction?

Phantom soared over them and slammed into the wall of the school with a resounding crash, creating a considerable dent in the bricks. “Ow”, it said dryly. Then its unnaturally green eyes turned down. They widened as the ghost saw Sam and Tucker, crouched where they hid. 

“Guys? What are you doing here?”, it asked, imitating surprise. Tucker didn’t answer, trying to make himself small. 

At that moment, the ghost snake whipped its massive tail around to slam square into Phantom’s chest. Tucker winced. If it hadn’t been a ghost, that would have hurt. Phantom slid a little down the wall, but picked itself up quickly. Tucker worriedly noted that it now had several bruises and a few dripping gashes. Danny would need some serious patching up later. 

Phantom got back to shooting blasts at the snake, but with considerably less gusto. Was it… losing? It seemed so much more powerful, so much more ruthless than the ghostly snake. How could such a creature lose a fight? 

“You need to get out of here”, Phantom called, suddenly turning to look at Sam and Tucker again. Tucker flinched back from the ghost’s attention. 

“Give back Danny!”, Sam called back defiantly. 

“I-” the ghost’s words were interrupted as the snake slammed into it again, and the fight resumed in full force. 

“Fuck”, Sam swore, her breathing coming fast as she crawled over to crouch next to Tucker. “It’s not backing down; Phantom’s going to seriously injure Danny if we don’t do something.”

“It already has”, Tucker said, pointing at the ghosts. “God, Danny…”

“Focus”, Sam snapped, her tone slipping from anger to worry. “There must be something we can do.”

Tucker reached back, slinging his backpack down so he could dig his hand into its contents. His fingers found purchase on cool metal, and he pulled out the Fenton Thermos. “I still have this.” 

“Ah, yes. The soup can that doesn’t capture ghosts”, Sam replied, bitterly sarcastic. 

“But it could. I was looking at it last night. I don’t know anything about ghosts, but I was looking at it last night. This thing is seriously high-tech. I think it could actually work.” 

“'Could' doesn’t help fight a ghost!”

“Do you have a better idea?” 

Sam opened her mouth in the beginnings of a retort, but growled as she backed down. “Fine. What’s the plan?” 

“Maybe we could give it to Phantom? If it wins, it should back down, or at least give Danny back. Its urges will be, like, satisfied or something.” Tucker hated the idea, but he couldn’t come up with anything better. It was recklessly dangerous, and there was no possible guarantee it would work. But each time he saw Phantom, he could see those wounds on his friend instead. They had to do this. For Danny. 

“I’ll throw it”, Sam said, holding out a hand. For a moment, Tucker wanted to protest, but he stopped himself. Sam had better aim, and right now they couldn’t afford a slip-up because of his pride. Tucker thrust the thermos into Sam’s grip and crouched back down to watch as Sam ducked out from behind the trash cans. She remained remarkably stoic, given the circumstances, but Tucker could still see her arm shaking ever-so-slightly, her grip clenched just a little too hard on the thermos. 

“Phantom, catch!”, Sam called. Tucker could barely breathe as the ghost’s green eyes locked on his painfully exposed friend, silently praying to any power that could possibly listen for the monster not to attack. 

Sam threw. 

The thermos hung in the air for a few tense moments, before the ghost caught it with inhuman agility Danny could never have managed. It looked… shocked, for a moment, before turning back around, legs melting away as it sped up. 

Sam jumped behind the trash cans the moment the Thermos left her hands, chest heaving. 

“Good job”, Tucker whispered. 

Sam cracked a feeble smile. “Obviously.”

Meanwhile, Phantom had started muttering to itself, uncapping the Thermos as the ghostly snake continued its pursuit. As the snake made another lunge, tongue flicking out, Phantom spun and held the Thermos out in front of its body, the uncapped end pointed directly at the oncoming ghost snake. 

It did absolutely nothing.

“Can’t they ever make something that works?”, Phantom cried as it narrowly avoided being caught on those jaws. Tucker began to wonder if giving their only possible piece of anti-ghost tech (currently nonfunctional as it was) to the most dangerous ghost they’d yet encountered had been the best idea. 

“Come on, you stupid thing!”, Phantom said, giving the thermos a sharp  _ thwack  _ to punctuate each word. 

Tucker exchanged a look with Sam. ‘What’s it doing?’, Sam mouthed. 

Tucker gave a perplexed shrug, just as confused as she was. ‘Maybe ghosts don’t get technology?’, he mouthed back. 

Sam let out a long, harsh breath. 

Both the humans’ heads whipped around at the flash of blue light, coming from the direction of the fighting ghosts. “Yes!”, came a triumphant call. Tucker peeked around to see Phantom holding out the Thermos in its hands just the same way as before, except now there was a brilliant beam of blue coming from the uncapped top which had the ghost snake ensnared. The snake gave a final screech before it was sucked in with a  _ pop _ , leaving dead silence. 

Now that one problem was dealt with, Tucker was very much regretting his plan. They could only hope that Phantom had been satisfied, and would give it up. And hadn’t Danny said he had some influence over the creature that replaced him? Maybe now their friend would be able to push the ghost back. 

Tucker’s thoughts were halted as the ghost drifted down, boots touching on cracked pavement. It let out a deep sigh and collapsed down on one of the benches, before the white rings snapped into being, passing over the ghost’s body and leaving Danny in its place. 

Sam let out a wordless noise of relief, practically leaping out from behind the trash cans. Tucker was right behind. Sam immediately began looking him over for injuries, while Tucker elected to simply sit beside Danny, offering… moral support. 

After a long, silent minute, Danny let out a long breath. “Hey, guys.” His voice was heavy with exhaustion. 

“Just tell me where that ghost is. I am going to  _ murder  _ it.” Sam’s voice shook with rage. Tucker hadn’t even noticed how much her anger had been building. 

Sadness flashed in Danny’s gaze. “I…” Danny paused. “What are you guys doing here?”

“We wanted to help, dude”, Tucker said. “We couldn’t let that ghost…” He trailed off as he caught another glimpse of the bruises on Danny’s arm. 

“It’s not safe!”, Danny exclaimed. “ _ You guys _ could have been hurt!”

“Sure, but is it fair we let that monster put you in harm's way while we just, what, stand by?”, Sam retorted. “You shouldn’t have to be the one to suffer because of all these ghosts that have been fucking up our lives lately.”

“But…” Danny paused, a mixture of emotions crossing his face. “You guys shouldn’t have to, either.” 

“Well, no one else is going to”, Sam said, crossing her arms. “And it doesn’t seem like these ghosts are going away.” 

“Plus, who knows what Phantom would do if we just let it run unchecked?”, Tucker added. 

Danny was silent for a moment. “Okay”, he finally said. “But can we at least get you guys some actual equipment if you’re going to be running after me into fights?”

“That’s... probably a good idea”, Sam conceded. Tucker nodded. 

“Also”, Danny continued. “Could you, maybe… not attack Phantom? I’m- he’s helping.”

Tucker exchanged a look with Sam. Phantom was most definitely not helping, but Danny seemed somehow blind to the danger. “We won’t hurt it”, Tucker said slowly. 

This seemed enough for Danny, who nodded. Then, his head shot up. “Shoot!”, he exclaimed. 

“What?”, Sam said, immediately alert. 

Danny smacked a palm to his face. “We’re going to be in so much trouble”, he groaned. 

Tucker let out a small laugh. “That’s all?”

“We ditched during an evacuation!”

Sam waved a hand. “We can just say we got lost.”

“All three of us. Lost. Together. On the exact opposite side of the school from where we’re supposed to be”, Danny deadpanned.

“Precisely, my friend”, Tucker said, slinging an arm across Danny’s shoulders. 

“I’m friends with delinquents”, Danny moaned, voice muffled as he plunged his face into Tucker’s sweater. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I am from California and don't know how fire drills work in "normal" schools, so here's me projecting my wonderful West Coast experience. I'm sure it's 100% accurate.
> 
> I'm really heavily debating where I want to take this as to which sentient ghost I want the gang to have to tussle with next. I already have the first planned out and have a good idea of how I want that to go, but for the second one all I have are couple of vague ideas, but nothing too concrete yet. I have one really good, fun, and ANGSTY idea that Lilac helped me flesh out, but it would probably throw a lot of things off, so I'd have to rework the plot a bit (I might possibly do this one as a side story set in the same AU but not canon to this story in particular if I can't find a way to work it into this plot). I don't want to make it too generic, though; these ghost encounters need to further the plot and emotional struggle. Part of me says Ember, but I also feel like that's just my monkey brain latching onto the pleasing color lineup. Also, I still need to figure out how I'm gonna fit that sweet, sweet thermos angst in. All this to say, if y'all have any particular ghost enemy you'd like to see fought that you think would work well for the story, feel free to share.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was debating whether to update this week because I'm super stuck with this story. My timing is very shaky and I'm rethinking some plot things. I decided I may as well post it, though, and at some point I'll figure out how I want to write chapter 11 and beyond. I have at least figured out which and how I want to bring in the next ghost. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter!

The trio found themselves back at Danny’s house. Other than a long, awkward lecture about safety and responsibility in the principal’s office from Lancer, they had actually gotten off with little consequence. From there, the rest of the school day had gone pretty smoothly. No more ghosts, at the very least. 

Man. It was ridiculous that those were now their standards. 

After school, they’d met up at Danny’s house again. He didn’t have any particularly bad injuries this time; he was more bruised than anything. They cleaned and put bandaids over the worst of the scratches, and that had been that. From there, they’d headed down to the Fentons’ weapons vault. 

“What’s this one do?”, Sam asked as she hefted a large, chrome-plated weapon off its wall mount. 

“Careful!”, Danny exclaimed, lunging forward to grab the other end. “My parents will  _ kill me _ if we break anything.”

Sam smirked, but carefully set the weapon down on the floor of the weapons vault. 

“I think that’s the… Fenton Ghost Foamer? Maybe?”, Danny said. “I don’t really pay attention to this stuff.” 

Tucker was by the opposite wall, examining a rack of various aiming tools. “At least there’s variety.” 

Danny glanced around. “My parents will be back soon, so let’s just get what we need and go.” 

“How about this?”, Sam asked. Tucker turned to see her holding a  _ very  _ large ectogun, braced against her shoulder. 

“Are you sure that’s… practical?”, Danny asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Sam, that thing’s  _ huge _ ,” Tucker said.

“So?”, Sam shrugged as she set the weapon down. “I can handle it.” 

“How will you carry that around?”, Danny asked. 

“Unlike you guys, I’m perceptive”, Sam said. Tucker was about to ask what she meant by that, but before he could she flipped the ectogun over and pressed a button on the underside. With a soft beep, the weapon folded in on itself until it was just a small silver cube, which Sam plucked up from the floor to hold between two fingers. 

“I’m taking it”, she said with an air of finality. Tucker couldn’t argue with that. “Okay, what else do we need?” 

Tucker turned, looking around the vault. His gaze landed on a cylindrical device. One end had the barrel, and the other seemed to have a spot to stick one’s arm in. “That thing looks  _ cool.” _

“I have no idea what that is, but go for it”, Danny said. 

Tucker moved and hefted it off the wall. It was sleek in his hands. Slipping an arm into it, Tucker struck a pose. “Just like Doomed!” 

“This is real life”, Sam drawled. 

“Shush”, Tucker chastised, running his hands over the metal. 

Sam rolled her eyes, but Tucker could see the corners of her lips turn up. She turned. “Danny, what are you taking?” 

Danny glanced over the room before walking over to grab a couple of small devices with short straps, pocketing them. “These should be fine.” 

Tucker raised an eyebrow. “Come on, you’re sure you don’t want something bigger?” 

Danny shrugged. “We already have Sam’s bazooka and your… arm… cannon… thing, and the thermos. I don’t want to take too much big stuff, or my parents will notice.” 

“Your call”, Tucker said. 

Danny glanced back at the door to the weapons vault. “Let’s get out of here. My parents will be back soon.”

Tucker and Sam both murmured in agreement, and the three stepped out into the hall. Danny shut the heavy door behind them. As it clicked shut, Jazz rounded the corner into the hall, head down and nose pressed into some thick book. At the noise, Danny’s sister looked up. 

“Danny?”, she asked, looking up in surprise. 

Tucker heard his friend groan.

“What are you… and Sam and Tucker doing?” Jazz let out a gasp. “Please don’t tell me our parents have indoctrinated you into all that ghost stuff.” 

“Uh…”

Tucker made an effort to shift his arm cannon behind his back. 

“No?” Danny’s statement sounded much more like a question than a statement. 

“They’re poisoning your innocent young minds!”, Jazz cried, rushing over.

“Jazz”, Danny grumbled. “We’re fine. Lay off.”

Tucker snorted. They were in for this ghost stuff whether they liked it or not. 

“But-” 

“Bye!”, said Danny. He grabbed Sam and Tucker’s arms and dragged them down the hallway and up the stairs, outpacing Jazz as he led Sam and Tucker up to his room. The hole in Danny’s wall had finally been fixed, leaving the room far cleaner than Tucker could ever remember it being and smelling of fresh paint. The trio assumed their normal positions and laid out the weapons. 

“Quite the excellent haul”, Tucker said. In reality, the collection of devices they had wasn’t all that impressive, but it was certainly a solid start. Besides, Tucker had grown rather fond of his new Fenton Arm Cannon in the few minutes he’d had it. Perhaps this whole ghost hunting thing wasn’t such a bad idea, after all. 

Sam suddenly sat up, pulling out her phone and groaning as she flicked on the screen. “I gotta get going”, Sam said, looking apologetic. “All this ghost stuff these last few days has been putting me behind on homework, so I need to do some catch-up.” 

Oh. Right. Obligations. Tucker reluctantly stood as well. “Me too. Sorry.” 

“It’s fine”, Danny replied. “See you tomorrow.” 

Sam looked at their friend earnestly. “Call us if anything goes wrong.” 

Danny’s eyes shifted, just for a second. But then he looked back up, nodding. “Yeah, sure.” 

A moment passed. Then, Tucker walked over and wrapped Danny in a hug. After a second, Sam joined in as well. Danny relaxed into the embrace. 

“We’re here for you, dude. Remember that.” 

\---

He was lucky to have Sam and Tucker, Danny thought as he watched them grab their scooters and ride off down the street. As his friends receded from view, Danny turned to go back into the house. But after a moment, he halted and stepped back outside. He’d go for a walk. It was still light out, it would be good to… to clear the air. Yeah,  _ maybe  _ he had homework, but that was future Danny’s problem. A little procrastination never hurt anyone. 

Danny shut the door and leapt down the steps, taking a left to head down the road. The sidewalk was mostly empty. Looking down at his sneakers, Danny found a little pebble and began absentmindedly kicking it down the pavement. 

Sam and Tucker really didn’t understand, wouldn’t understand, but Danny could still tell they were trying. They thought his ghost form was a separate entity, something that would hurt him, but they still stuck by him, or at least what they could identify as him. And after those fights, they cared. During those fights, they cared. Sam’s protective fury, Tucker’s worry… they were sticking by him. Despite the absolutely insane situation. 

Still. It… it didn’t feel good, the way they looked at him, cowered at him. They wouldn’t hesitate to hurt him, in ghost form. They  _ wanted  _ to hurt him, in ghost form. Logically, he  _ knew  _ that it was only because they thought they were helping him, the human, but… still. 

Looking up, Danny found himself across the street from in the park. How long had he been walking? He must have really zoned out. The sun was still up, but beginning to dip below the buildings. With a sigh, Danny crossed the road, not really bothering to look for cars, and entered the grassy area. Making his way up a short rise, he sat down at the foot of a tree. 

Casting his gaze around, Danny suddenly realized that the park seemed oddly… empty, for a late Tuesday afternoon. He couldn’t spot a single person besides himself. Then again… was he really a person anymore? With… 

“Shut up”, he said aloud. He would admit he was probably not taking any of what had happened in the last few days well, but whatever he’d been doing had not exactly been going great for him. So he’d simply try a new tactic: bottling up all of these thoughts and feelings and shoving them deep, deep down inside where he would never so much as have to look at them ever again. He snorted humorlessly. Jazz would be having an aneurysm at his totally awesome coping methods. 

Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. God. He’d come out here to try and distract himself, not to fall back into this same circuitous loop of suckiness. 

Suddenly, the cold spot in his chest jumped eagerly, all the coiled power pushing to the surface. It  _ wanted  _ him to go into ghost form (not that he was a ghost. Nope. No-siree.) He could feel it pushing, and couldn’t stop it as the white rings snapped out, bringing along the crisp rush of electric-cold. And then there he was, white-haired and glowing all over. 

Letting out a long, tense sigh, he pushed himself to his feet, feeling… resigned, more than anything. Weird as it was, at least there weren't any people around to flee in terror. 

Almost unconsciously, Danny began to float, settling into a hover with the tips of his boots just a few inches above the ground. He turned his hands over, the same sight as ever. White gloves, identical to those of the jumpsuit his parents had made for him, but for the color and softly glowing aura. 

He realized at that moment that he didn’t really  _ know  _ much of anything about his ghost form. He knew what his hands looked like, he knew his hair was white. He knew he could shoot neon-green energy beams. He’d seen himself in the mirror once, that first time, before breaking down crying because he looked wrong and his friends had run from him in fear. He knew his tears were green. All in all, not exactly the best information. 

Maybe this could be a good opportunity, then. 

Most kids would be doing… other types of self exploration. Not his asexual ass. Nope, he got whatever this weird shit was. 

Right. He didn’t have a mirror, so he reached back for his phone… which was not there. Of course not. Because the stupid transformation whisked everything on his person away to god-knows-where right along with his regular clothes. 

Whatever. He flew in a short circle in the air. He didn’t feel any different, mentally. At least, he thought so. His parents always drilled into him and Jazz how ghosts were incapable of emotion, malicious. Unbidden, Danny’s thoughts cast back to his Dad’s speech yesterday. He shook his head quickly.  _ Nope! We’re ignoring the trauma like a responsible person.  _

He still had thoughts, still had feelings. He was still Danny. He just… looked different. 

_ You’re a ghost,  _ his core (not a core, only ghosts had cores) hummed. 

Danny did his best to ignore that. Experimentally, he tried pulling at his glove, wondering if it, or any of the rest of the jumpsuit, could come off. The answer to that question, it seemed, was no. How fun. 

Well, he already knew he could fly, go intangible, go invisible, and shoot green energy beams. He wondered if he could do anything else. What were other things ghosts could usually do? Teleport? Yeah, he thought he’d seen ghosts do that in a show once. Concentrating, he tried it. 

Nothing. After thirty seconds of floating there, probably looking like an absolute idiot with his eyes clamped shut, he let out a breath and gave it up, unsurprised to find himself in the exact same spot he’d been in thirty seconds ago. 

He called a little bit of energy to his fingertips, where it danced easily. Naturally. It was almost scary how naturally so much of this came to him. Okay, a lot of the stuff was hard to control, but it still felt like a part of him, in the same way his core was.

It was getting dark by now. He should probably be getting home. 

Luckily, he had none of the trouble changing back he’d had yesterday. The rings came easily as he set his feet back on the ground, the cold of his other form receding neatly. Danny began to walk back down to the path, when he heard a rustling in the bushes. He froze, whipping his head around. It was silent but for the soft breeze rushing through the leaves. Relaxing, Danny began walking again. He only made it three steps before he heard the rustling again. With an internal sigh, he came to a halt. 

“Hey, if you’re going to mug me or something, come out already”, he called, annoyed.

Silence met his ears for a few seconds, but then the bushes rustled again, this time accompanied by a soft churring sound. Danny tilted his head, confused, and took a cautious step forward. He reached out a hand to brush the leaves of the bush, pulling back a branch.

Staring up at him were two small red eyes. Beneath the bush was some sort of shapeless creature, its body a little blob of softly glowing green. It seemed like a ghost, but it wasn’t attacking. It didn’t even look malicious.

The creature made a little chirrup and proceeded to begin crawling forward, sliding across the ground like a slug. Danny watched as it slowly made its way out from under the bush, coming towards him. Then it began to crawl up his leg, cold little body vibrating as it purred like a cat. 

“Wha- oh, no”, Danny said. “Get off me!” He shook his leg, but the little blob ghost just wrapped itself tighter to Danny’s jeans, purrs increasing in volume. 

Cautiously, Danny reached a hand down to gently grasp the blob ghost, relieved when touching it didn’t melt his bare skin down to acid or something. He attempted to pull it off. The creature gave an indignant little squeak and clasped on tighter. 

Danny sighed. Figures. At least it seemed harmless. And it  _ was  _ kind of cute. For a ghost, anyway. It was nothing like the ghostly snake, or the ectopus. He couldn’t see how the creature could be evil.

Maybe he could just start walking home, and it would drop off on the way. 

\---

It didn’t. Danny found himself on the Fentonworks doorstep with the blob ghost still just as cozied up to him as it had been in the park. 

Danny gave the creature with an exasperated look. “You gotta go now.” 

The blob ghost’s small red eyes widened, and it began crawling farther up his leg, moving across his hips and side until it was wrapped around his shoulder. 

“My parents will hurt you, you know”, Danny said.  _ Like they want to hurt me…  _

The blob ghost didn’t budge, letting out a stubborn squeak. 

Danny sighed. “Fine, you can come. But you have to hide.” 

The blob ghost gave a happy, rumbling purr and then disappeared. Danny startled a bit, before realizing it was still there; the creature must have just gone invisible. Well. That was useful. 

Danny pushed open the front door and stepped into the living room, thankfully empty of Jazz or his parents. As quietly as he could, he crept into the kitchen, intending to grab something for dinner. 

The kitchen was  _ not  _ empty of Jazz or his parents. All of them were there, in fact, his parents at the table and Jazz leaning against the cabinets, watching something in the microwave. 

Danny tried to turn right back around, but it was too late. “Danny!”, Jazz called. 

His mom looked up. Her eyes, covered by her goggles, narrowed. “Where have you been? It’s dark out! You know you’re supposed to be back before dark.”

Danny winced. Why did his parents have to suddenly start paying attention to him  _ now _ ? The blob ghost shifted on his shoulder, making him painfully aware of its presence. He wanted to get out of here as soon as possible

“I was just going for a walk”, Danny mumbled. He kept his eyes downcast, not wanting to give anything away in his expression. Everyone always told him he was a terrible liar, to which he would respond that he  _ wasn’t that bad,  _ but he didn’t exactly want to take chances right now.

“Danny, you know it’s not safe”, his mother chastised sternly.

“There are ghosts about!”, his dad pitched in. Danny hoped they wouldn’t notice him stiffening. 

Jazz let out an exasperated huff, spinning on her heel to face their parents. She brought her hands to her hips. “Not  _ again  _ with this ghost nonsense! You’re just confusing him, you know!” She threw out a hand towards Danny. “Look at him! He needs stability, not delusions.”

“But Jazzy-pants, we-”, their father started. 

Jazz gave him a glare that could melt steel. 

Danny stood there awkwardly, watching the exchange. He wasn’t going to complain about Jazz taking the focus off of him, even if he could do without her overprotectiveness. Slowly, he began inching his way towards the living room. 

But the blob ghost chose that moment to let out a loud purr. Danny froze as all the heads in the kitchen turned straight towards him. 

“What was that?”, his father whispered. 

“Something’s wrong”, his mom said. She began inching her hand towards whatever device she had been working on, still sitting on the table. “No one move.” 

Danny let out a strained chuckle, moving a hand up to his neck as he desperately tried to think of a way to defuse the situation. “Nothing’s wrong”, he said, voice going high. Okay, he could see how people thought he was a bad liar. 

His parents exchanged a grim look. “Kids, there’s a ghost about”, his dad said, looking at Jazz, then Danny. 

“We need to be very careful”, his mom said. 

Of course, now Jazz had no protests to the ghost claims. Guess Danny was doing this himself, then. 

“Ghosts aren’t real”, Danny said, waving a hand. The blob ghost shifted on his shoulder, burrowing in closer. “I have… homework. Yeah, homework. And, you know, gotta stay on top of things. So…” Danny gave what he was sure was the most awkward thumbs-up ever to be performed by a human being before turning to rush towards his room as fast as he possibly could without breaking into a run. 

“Danny!”, his mother called sharply. He ignored it. 

Once he was in his room, he shut the door firmly and flopped back on his bed. The blob ghost dropped through his shoulder onto the bedspread. 

“I hope that was worth it”, Danny said, running a hand down his face as he turned his head to stare at the little blob ghost. The small creature let out a contented rumble and pressed close to his arm.

Danny chuckled. “I guess you are kind of cute.” He tentatively brought a hand up to stroke the ghost. It purred at the contact, pressing into his hand. Danny felt a small smile creep onto his lips. 

His joy was ruined when the glowing white rings passed in front of his eyes, and he was left once again a ghost. 

Danny groaned. He’d thought his control had been getting better, but apparently not. There hadn’t even been a clear trigger this time!

Quickly, he got up from his bed and dragged his desk chair in front of the door. That way, he might have time to hide or something if someone came in. He slumped back against the wall and tried to think human thoughts. 

He had been sitting there for a minute when a soft chirrup reached his ears. Confused, he looked up. The chirrup came again, and Danny felt something cold push its way under his hand. He looked down to see the little blob ghost, red eyes staring up at him. 

Danny blinked, just staring for a second before he could form words. “You’re… not scared?”, he said softly. He bit his lip, bringing his other hand to his mouth. 

Gently, Danny took the little blob ghost in his hands and brought it to his chest, careful not to squeeze too hard. A shaky breath escaped his lips. He could cry right now. After everything… even if this creature was a ghost, it was something. It had a mind, and that mind wasn’t telling it to run from him, or destroy him, or that Danny’s ghostly self was dangerous.

It made him feel less alone. 

The blob ghost nuzzled its… head? Against Danny’s gloved hand. Danny stroked it softly with a thumb. “Well, you’ll definitely need a name now”, he murmured. “How about...” Danny paused, considering. He was extremely tempted to make it a blob pun, but felt that the ghost deserved something more than that. 

Danny sat there several more moments, the blob ghost curled small and cold in his hands, before his mind landed on an idea that stuck. 

“How about Glow?”, he asked softly. The blob ghost purred, and Danny laughed a little in response. “You like that, huh?” 

Danny sat there for another minute, leaning his head back against the wall and gently stroking Glow, when the rings of his transformation passed before his eyes, unbidden. Danny jumped up in surprise. “Wh-” He’d never transformed  _ back  _ to human without trying. 

Carefully, he set Glow back onto his bed, then moved a hand up to clutch a lock of now-black hair, pulling it in front of his face. His hands were ungloved. Danny made a curious noise in the back of his throat. “Weird.” He’d count this as progress. 

Danny turned his gaze back to Glow, who had flattened itself (themself? Did ghosts have genders?) down onto the bedspread. Too exhausted to think about anything anymore, Danny flopped back into his bed, reaching a hand out to stroke the blob ghost. 

“What a night”, Danny said aloud, shaking his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I put too much thought into what weapons to give the trio. I based Tucker’s weapon off his weapon from Doomed, because I can’t actually recall him using many of the Fentons’ actual ectoweapons in canon, so this is the best I could come up with. Sam gets a heavy weapon because she’s a strong human and she deserves it. To be honest I was originally really tempted to give her some sort of giant ghost-smashing hammer, but then I realized that the utility of that would be kind of limited because she’d have to get pretty close to a ghost for that to work, and that’s definitely not a common pursuit in this au. 
> 
> I gave Danny an emotional support blob ghost because the poor dude needs something. I have so much fun writing Danny-Jazz sibling interactions.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday! I am very tired after finals and everything else in my life (gotta love having an absolute breakdown) but it's done! This is my last prewritten chapter, so this story might go on a brief hiatus. I did finally get over the writer's block, though! The schedule going forward will really depend on how much writing I can get done this weekend.

Tucker whistled as he made his way across the street to Nasty Burger. His spirits were high, all things considered. The last two days had been one hundred percent ghost-free, a very welcome change. Although Tucker was a little bummed he hadn’t had any opportunity to try out his new weapon. 

Danny said he hadn’t had any Phantom problems, either. Tucker wasn’t quite sure he believed his friend, but didn’t push, and had managed to hold Sam back as well. They shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, and if Danny said he was fine, he was probably fine. Probably. Tucker pushed down his worry. 

Even the day seemed to reflect the upbeat mood, sky blue and birdsong echoing down the streets. Sam absolutely hated it, but Tucker found it refreshing. He pushed open the doors to the Nasty Burger and scanned the booths for his friends, finding them in a spot by the window. Tucker waved before getting in line to order a light afternoon snack. Two minutes later, he was turning away from the counter with two meat-n-cheese fry melts. 

Tucker passed by the A-listers, who hurled their usual insults. They had been extra pissed at the trio after the stunt that Sam and Tucker had pulled to get them off Danny’s back on Monday. Tucker was still reveling in the glorious image of Dash soaked and clutching his foot. Passing them by, Tucker slid into the booth next to Sam, Danny on the other side. 

Sam scoffed, craning her neck to look at the popular kids. “Morons.” She then began eying Tucker’s meal disapprovingly. “How can you eat that?” 

“How can you eat _that?_ ”, Tucker responded, gesturing to her salad. 

“Salad doesn’t give me premature heart disease.” 

“You wound me”, Tucker said, dramatically clutching a hand to his chest. 

Sam turned to look across the table. “Danny? You’ve been awfully quiet.” 

“Hm?” Danny, who had been looking down at his lap, straightened. “Oh, uh, yeah. I’m… I’m fine.” 

“Want some?”, Tucker offered, pushing one of his meat fries towards his friend. 

“I’m good”, Danny said. After a moment, he seemed to reconsider and reached out to pluck a single fry from the heap. Tucker grinned. 

Sam rolled her eyes. “Anything new?”, she said, changing the subject. “With–” 

Tucker shot her a look which he hoped conveyed, “We’re not bringing this up, remember? Ghost free zone.”

Sam, it seemed, did not catch his drift as she plowed on, pausing to shoot an equally hard look at Tucker. “– _with_ ghosts. Nothing’s gone wrong?” She looked expectantly at Danny. 

“Uh… no”, Danny said, but Tucker caught how he dropped his eyes. 

Sam frowned, brow creasing, and reached a hand across the table. “Danny, please don’t push us away.” 

“I’m not!”, Danny said. “Nothing’s wrong. Nothing’s happened.” 

Tucker bit his lip. It was clear to see that something was wrong, as much as he wished it wasn’t. But it was also clear that Danny didn’t want to talk about it. Tucker didn’t know what he should do; he didn’t want to let his friend suffer in silence, but if he wasn’t telling them, would it really be better to pry? 

“Okay, dude”, Tucker finally said. “Just please remember we’re here for you.” 

The corners of Danny’s lips turned down, a glint of sadness flickering through his gaze. “I know”, he said. He gave a strained smile. “Thanks.” 

A beat of awkward silence followed, none of the three seeming to want to speak first. And none of them had to, because at that moment, the wall of the Nasty Burger exploded inward. 

Yelps rose up as people began jumping up from their seats to escape the rain of shattered glass. Someone pulled out a cell phone. 

“Shit, what was that?”, Sam hissed, shooting to her feet. 

Danny’s lips parted like he was about to speak, but before he could a plume of bright blue mist escaped his mouth, which he quickly clapped a hand over. Tucker’s eyes widened. What had _that_ been? He didn’t have any time to think about it, though, as a sickening chill washed over him. Tucker stood, stiffening as he turned to see a figure that was undoubtedly a ghost. 

It flew in through the newly-created hole in the restaurant’s wall. Its body was metallic, with a collection of darker armour and a large ectogun clutched in huge hands. Bright neon flames formed a mohawk and goatee. 

The worst, though, were its eyes. Pupil-less and green, they were the eyes of a predator. 

He took back everything he had thought before about wanting a chance to try out his new weapon. People had now begun scrambling for the exits, tripping over each other in a deafening frenzy. Right at that moment, Tucker was inclined to join them, but Sam gripped his hand. 

The ghost let out a bellowing laugh that echoed off the broken walls. “Such easy prey! But not worth my time.” Slowly, it turned its head to face the trio. No. To face Danny, Tucker realized. His blood ran cold. 

The ghost smiled a toothy grin. “Ah, the ghost child. You will be a crowning jewel to my collection.”

\---

Sam’s hands balled into fists at her sides. This monster had _no right_ to be threatening her friend. She began inching her hand towards her backpack, where she had the bazooka tucked away. Note to self: keep it closer to her person.

The ghost crossed its arms. “What, not going to put up a fight? That’s no fun.” 

Sam’s fingers brushed the cool metal of the cube. She grasped it. 

The ghost lifted its arm. From its wrist emerged another ectogun. “But a pelt is a pelt, I suppose.” 

Everything happened so fast after that, but at the same time everything was sharp, each second stretched to a minute. The ghost fired, a glowing green shot arcing towards them. White light flashed. A gloved hand gripped her forearm, and a numbness washed over her body. She was pulled _down_ , into the floor, solid matter passing before her, through her. The feeling was deeply uncomfortable, wrong. 

Then feeling returned to her body, and she fell heavily, boots hitting the floor. _This must be the basement_ , she realized. Sam landed in a crouch, and out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Tucker, who had made a decidedly less graceful landing. 

“Oh, shoot!”, came a voice. A voice she recognized all too well. “Sorry about that…”

Sam launched herself to her feet, whipping her head up to see Phantom, floating above them. She still clutched the cubed bazooka. Her thumb found the small button on one face, and she pushed down. The cube folded out into the weapon, the weight momentarily catching her off guard. She recovered quickly, lifting the bazooka so the barrel squarely faced Phantom’s chest. She really wished she’d practiced with this thing. 

The ghost’s eyes widened, and Sam squeezed her finger down on the trigger.

“Sam, wait!", came a cry from behind her. It was Tucker. “Danny!”

Sam instantly dropped her weapon, realizing what she’d done. She watched in horror as the shot arced towards the ghost. Thank all the gods, her aim was off. The creature was able to dodge, darting quickly to the side as its legs melted away. But she had still done that. She could have hurt Danny, even if it was to stop the threat of Phantom. She brought a hand to her mouth. In the future she couldn’t be so reckless, couldn’t just listen to the fear. 

A huge impact rang out, shaking the space. All three heads turned to see a smoking hole, down through which flew the same horrible ghost from earlier. It barked out a malicious laugh. “There we go! The hunt is always so much better with a little challenge.” 

“Who– what are you?”, Phantom asked, spinning in the air to face the other ghost. It sounded unsure. A subtle flicker of green energy began to coalesce around its hands. 

The other ghost smirked. “Of course you wouldn’t know. I am Skulker, the Ghost Zone’s greatest hunter!” 

“The… what?” 

The other ghost scowled. “All you need to know is that your pelt will soon be on my wall.”

Phantom’s face screwed up into an expression of disgust. “That is incredibly weird. Respectfully, no.”

Sam had begun backing up, inching closer to Tucker. As far as she could see, the only escape route was the door to the stairway on the back wall, assuming neither of them spontaneously gained the ability to fly. She gripped her weapon tightly; it was her best defense against the two monsters. 

“Run”, she whispered into Tucker’s ear, hoping it was quiet enough that neither of the ghosts would hear. “I’ll stay here, see if I can get it to give Danny back, maybe keep it from getting more injured.”

“I can’t… can’t just leave you”, Tucker whispered back. 

“I have the weapon”, Sam said, lifting her bazooka a little. “This is the safest way.” 

Tucker sighed, then shuddered. “I’ll go”, he said softly. “But I’ll be back.” 

Sam nodded. At least one of her friends could be safe, or safer at least, this way. “I’ll shoot, distract them. You run.” Tucker nodded, pursing his lips. 

Fear welled up in Sam as she leveled the shot. Aim mattered this time. She’d go for the other ghost, Skulker, as it had identified itself. 

“Die, ugly!”, she yelled, pulling the trigger. 

Both ghosts turned at her exclamation, barely having time to react as the green blast collided with Skulker. Her aim had been a little off, but the shot still hit hard, throwing Skulker back into a wall. Tucker, meanwhile, had made it to the stairs unnoticed. 

Phantom blinked. “Wow.”

Sam stiffened, turning to aim her bazooka at Phantom. She wouldn’t actually shoot, but the creature didn’t know that. She glared, trying to keep her breaths steady. 

The ghost bit its lip. “Oh.” It turned its attention back to Skulker, who was getting up from where Sam’s shot had slammed it into the wall. Sam could relax a little once Phantom’s gaze left her, but the respite wasn’t long. Skulker drifted up, cold neon eyes narrowing as they landed on Sam. It lifted its gun. “You dare…” 

Sam aimed her bazooka back at Skulker, but her hands shook. This ghost could kill her in an instant. Suddenly, everything felt very, very real. 

“Back off!” The echoing shout came from Phantom, and was punctuated by the glowing fist it drove straight into Skulker’s face. Skulker seemed caught off guard, and was thrown back by the punch. 

Sam stared. Was it trying to… protect her? Surely not… not when it threw Danny into danger, not when it was so bent on hurting people. Fuck, there was something so off about all this, but she couldn’t figure it out. She _hated_ the helplessness of it all. 

Skulker’s face twisted into a snarl. “Insolent whelp!” It whipped its gun up, loosing a glowing shot that hit Phantom straight in the chest, throwing it back into the bricks with a heavy _crunch._

Sam didn’t know what to do. She wanted to protect Danny, but to do that she had to protect Phantom, but that would draw the attention of both the ghosts, which would be suicide. It was a hopeless decision. The best she could settle on was to hold her bazooka up in what she hoped was a vaguely threatening manner and crouch closer to the wall in the hope that that would be a more defensible position. 

Phantom bounced back into the air, throwing green beams from its fists. “Can you just go away?”, it asked. 

Skulker dodged most of Phantom’s shots. “Skulker never abandons a hunt.” 

Phantom’s eyebrows knit together confusedly, briefly stalling its assault before beginning the volley again. “What the heck are you talking about?” 

Skulker grabbed a gun, a different one this time, off of its back, blocking Phantom’s next shot. It clicked its tongue, shaking its head patronizingly. “Ah, ghost child. So ignorant.” It pointed the new gun at Phantom, and shot twice in quick succession. Phantom was able to dive out of the way of the first shot, but couldn’t escape the second. Its eyes widened as a glowing green net unfurled and wrapped tightly around it. The ghost went stiff and dropped to the dirty floor of the basement, where it struggled vainly against the trap. 

Skulker laughed, descending to leer over Phantom. “You wonder why I want you?” It grinned, all teeth. “You are unique. A human and a ghost, all in one. And that is why I must have your skin for myself.”

Phantom’s lips parted. “You–” It stopped, leaving a silence that hung taut for a second in the air. “You recognize me?” 

“Recognize you?” Skulker tilted its head, raising an incredulous eyebrow. “I’ve been following you, if that’s what you’re asking.” 

“You– wait, what? No, but that’s… really disturbing.” Phantom shook its head. “I mean you know that me the human and me… like this, they’re the same?” 

“Obviously. I am not stupid, whelp”, Skulker replied. It lunged forward, grabbing the net and swinging it effortlessly over its shoulder. Phantom let out a muffled yelp and began struggling harder against its bonds. “Enough talk.” 

\---

Tucker’s feet pounded up the stairs, fast as he could move. With every step, the violating fear in his mind eased as he got _away, away, away_ from the danger, out of the sight of the ghosts. As the fear lifted, logic returned, and he knew he had to go back down there as soon as possible. 

He’d go grab his weapon and the Fenton thermos, both still sitting in his backpack. He hoped he could find it. Especially the thermos; they’d at least need it to deal with Skulker, if not Phantom. 

Tucker snorted. So much for it being a nice, peaceful day. 

He emerged out into one of the back rooms of the Nasty Burger, abandoned but surprisingly undamaged. He ran through them quickly, bursting through the door into the restaurant proper. 

He surveyed the scene. It was certainly more damaged than the back, chunks of rubble from more than just that first breach of the wall covering the floors and tables. There was also a large hole in the middle of the floor, more than likely the one. The company would have a fun time fixing that damage. There was no one here, either; everyone had probably fled. _Like sensible people,_ he thought wryly. Tucker hopped the counter, scanning for the blue of his backpack. He was, thankfully, able to spot it quickly, and ran over to it. 

Crouching, he unzipped it and grabbed his arm cannon and the thermos, slipping on the former and clipping the latter to his waist. After a second, he stuck his hand back in and pocketed one of his PDAs. For good measure. 

Time was of the essence. Tucker scrambled back across the counter and through the kitchen, into the back room, and to the top of the stairs. As he reached the doorway that led back down to the basement, though, a sense of dread came over him. He came to a halt, everything telling him to turn back. He _knew_ there were two dangerous ghosts down there; to walk right into their waiting clutches would be reckless. Stupid. 

Tucker scolded himself internally. Sure, it was dangerous, but Sam and Danny needed him. He couldn’t let his friends put themselves in harm's way without him. He could help; he had to. 

Trying (unsucessfully) to tamp down his nerves, Tucker gulped and descended down the stairs. 

\---

Sam watched with wide eyes as Skulker shook the net with Phantom in it. “Stop struggling”, it snapped. 

“Not unless you let me go, asshole!” Phantom stuck out a white boot, jabbing it at Skulker’s back. That did absolutely nothing; the foot just bounced off the metal plates with a hollow _thunk._

Skulker gave the net another hard shake, then hit Phantom hard in the stomach… or the ghost equivalent of a stomach, Sam supposed. “Quiet.” Skulker’s voice was forceful. 

Phantom hissed sharply at the punch, groaning and curling in on itself. Skulker gave that awful toothy smirk at the other ghost’s silence. 

It was enough to let Sam’s worry overwhelm her fear. She sprang to her feet and leveled her bazooka, bracing it to her shoulder. She had to be careful only to hit Skulker, not Phantom. “Drop it”, she snarled. Skulker turned its head, just to see Sam loose the shot. 

Skulker dodged it, darting upward. Sam sucked in a sharp breath. Stupid! She’d lost the element of surprise, and now had both ghosts’ attention on her. This was not going to end well. 

Skulker let out a low chuckle, that creepy grin still on its face. “The ghost child’s little pet has a spine now, hm?” 

“Who are you calling pets?” 

Sam whipped her head around to see Tucker at the entrance to the stairway, thermos clutched in one hand and cannon held over the other. Without even a second of pause, he pulled back his arm, and the cannon loosed a shot. It wasn’t nearly as large as the ones Sam’s bazooka fired, but it did its job alright, managing to hit Skulker dead-on in the nose. 

Skulker howled, dropping the net with Phantom in it as it brought a hand to its face. Tucker smiled shakily, looking almost shocked. “Just like Doomed.” 

Sam turned her bazooka back on Skulker, determination renewed. 

“Use the thermos”, an echoing voice croaked. Phantom. Sam tensed at the suggestion. Was it a trick? She exchanged a frantic look with Tucker.

“Come on!”, Phantom said impatiently. The green glow surrounding its hands spread up its arms, across its chest and over its whole body. A low hum picked up, growing steadily. Sam backed up, wary, as Tucker continued shooting Skulker, who was now engaged in dodging. Unfortunately, Skulker didn’t seem to be having a difficult time doing so; Tucker’s shots weren’t any more accurate than hers, and while they came faster, they were smaller as well. 

The net around Phantom, still on the floor, exploded outward, startling everyone, even Skulker. Phantom looked down, then pumped a fist. “Yes!” It leapt up into the air. Sam drew a sharp breath, training her bazooka on the creature. She didn’t know how it had gotten out of that net, and wasn’t sure the monster being free was really a good development. 

“Ready for round two, jerk?”, Phantom taunted, squaring up into a fighting stance. Despite its bruises, the ghost looked fearsome. 

Skulker growled. “It won’t be much of a match, whelp.” 

Phantom’s eyes flashed. Without any further conversation, it shot straight towards Skulker. Unfortunately for Phantom (and Danny, _shit Danny_ –), Skulker held up one of its large palms and caught the fist easily. Phantom’s eyes widened as Skulker pulled back its arm and slammed Phantom into the floor, hard. 

“Now, this has been fun, but I think it’s about time I put you in your rightful place, ghost child.” Skulker sneered. “My wall.” Skulker lifted an arm. Out of its wrist gauntlet emerged a glowing, curved blade, serrated and sharp. 

“No!”, Sam cried. She dove forward. They couldn’t let this ghost hurt Phantom, _they couldn’t let it hurt Danny_ –

A flash. Sam stopped and whipped her head around to see Tucker brandishing the uncapped thermos, eyes squeezed shut. A blue beam emanated from the container. Skulker was caught straight in its path. “Wha– no!” The ghost screeched as its form warped, twisting and compressing as it was sucked inward, into the thermos. There was a faint _pop_ as the last glimpse of the monster squeezed neatly into the container. Quickly, Tucker capped it, thrusting it as far from his body as he could. The basement was left in stillness, the only sounds two (wait… three?) sets of heavy breaths and the dripping of a loose pipe somewhere. 

Phantom set its feet onto the ground and ran a gloved hand through its hair. “That was… that was close.” Its voice was hoarse. 

Both Sam and Tucker aimed their weapons at the remaining ghost. “Give Danny back”, Sam demanded. “Now.”

Phantom quickly threw its hands up. “I- I will! Please just stop pointing those things at me.”

Sam glared, but eased back a little. 

Phantom sighed. It tilted its head down and shut its eyes, growing still. Sam and Tucker both waited tensely as the ghost muttered something to itself. After far too long, in Sam’s opinion, the familiar flash came, and the sense of wrongness lifted. Danny was back. 

Sam and Tucker moved forward, intending to help him, but Danny put a hand out. “Let’s get out of here first”, he said. He sounded absolutely beat. 

“...okay”, Tucker said. 

Danny went first, and Sam and Tucker followed him up the stairs. Sam pressed the button on her bazooka to fold it up again. Tucker still had the thermos in his hand. The restaurant was still empty, which Sam supposed made sense, but it was still weird to see the usually packed establishment so empty, so wrecked. 

“Your guys’ backpacks are over here”, Tucker said, pointing to the cracked spot that Sam figured must have formerly been the booth. She kicked a chunk of wall out of the way and found her bag, dusty but thankfully unscathed. She could have it cleaned later. 

Danny had grabbed his backpack as well, and was now glancing around apprehensively. “We should go. I don’t think it’s a good idea to hang around here."

Sam nodded and hefted her backpack onto her shoulders as Tucker made a noise of agreement. “Back door?”, Tucker suggested, pointing in the direction with a thumb. Sam and Danny both nodded, and the three of them hurried back through the kitchen, making their way into the space behind the restaurant. 

Danny leaned against the wall and sighed, slowly sliding down until he was sitting on the ground. Sam walked over and sat down beside him. Tucker moved to his other side. 

Danny rolled his head back. “God. That was…”

“Terrifying?”, Tucker suggested. 

“Well, yeah”, said Danny. He put his backpack in front of him and opened the top, reaching a hand in. 

“Whatcha- agh!” Sam let out a yelp and leapt away as Danny pulled his hand out of his bag, a small, formless ghost now wrapped around it. 

“What are you doing with that thing?!”, Tucker screeched, pointing at the ghost. 

Danny’s brow furrowed. “You’re not– you have got to be kidding.” He held up the hand with the ghost on it. “How could Glow possibly be scaring you?” 

“It’s a ghost!”, Sam replied incredulously. Why wasn’t Danny seeing that the creature was dangerous? 

Danny let out a long groan. “What. The fuck. What the fuck? Why? Why are you guys so scared of ghosts? I mean, being scared of Skulker, that made sense. But why Glow?” His voice went low. “Why…why me?” Danny put his head in the hand not being held by the ghost, and brought the ghost closer to his chest with the other. 

Tucker reached a hand out, getting the other two’s attention. “Can I just ask, what’s ‘Glow’?”

Danny looked up, and pulled the ghost away from his chest. “They are”, he said. “This ghost. That’s…” He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “That’s what I named them.” 

Sam tilted her head, curious. She could still tell that the ghost Danny held was dangerous, but it was nowhere near the levels of any of the others she had encountered so far. Granted, that wasn’t very many, but… maybe, if she was cautious, she could get closer. Ghosts are _kind of_ cool, after all, when there’s no immediate threat of being killed or otherwise destroyed by the creatures.

Slowly, Sam approached, crouching down next to Danny. Danny held out the ghost encouragingly, and Sam brought a hand up to touch it. She flinched away as soon as she did. Its body was much colder than she had expected, and there was something that felt indescribably _off_ about letting it so close to her. Nevertheless, she stuck out her hand again, brushing her fingertips over the ghost’s back. She’d expected the skin to be goopy or slimy, but instead it was dry. Pliable and cold, but dry. The little creature pressed into her touch. 

Danny smiled. “See? Glow’s not going to hurt you.” He looked over to Tucker, who still stood a few feet away, and beckoned with his free hand. “Come on.” Danny’s face slipped into a mischievous grin. “You’re not _scared,_ are you?” 

Tucker sputtered. “I’m- of course I’m not!” He waved a hand. “Psh. Me? Scared?” 

Sam snorted, and Tucker shot her a glare. He put his chin up and marched over to Danny. Danny raised his eyebrows. Tucker sighed, and squeezing his eyes shut brought an unsteady hand to touch the ghost. He immediately jerked away, just like Sam had. 

“That’s it”, Danny said encouragingly. 

Tucker touched the ghost again, this time for a little longer. He still pulled his hand away, shaking out his wrist with a shiver. “That thing is _seriously_ creepy.”

“Gotta agree with Tucker on this one, Danny”, Sam said. “And, don’t get me wrong, normally I’m all for that kind of thing, but this?” She gestured towards the ghost. “This is outside of even my ring.” 

Danny’s brow furrowed. “Seriously? I mean, I guess the eyes and shape could be a bit weird, almost all the scenes from _Dead Teacher 6_ alone were scarier than Glow.” The ghost let out a rumbling noise. 

“Your scale of ‘scary’ is really weird, then, dude”, Tucker said. Sam made a noise of agreement. Danny didn’t look convinced. 

“Anyway”, Sam said. “We should probably get farther away than just behind the very recently blown-up restaurant.” 

Danny’s eyes widened. “You don’t think they’ll think we did it, do you?” 

“We _are_ a group of teenagers suspiciously close to the crime scene”, Sam replied. 

Danny got to his feet and quickly grabbed his backpack. “Let’s go”, he said. 

“Could you maybe put away the ghost?”, Tucker asked, eying the creature still perched on Danny’s forearm. “It’s kind of… conspicuous.” 

_Conspicuously off-putting,_ Sam thought, but she didn’t voice the words. 

Danny looked between the ghost and his friends before nodding reluctantly. “Okay.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> Here's Skulker! I thought he was a good choice to introduce the gang to sentient ghosts because he's fairly generic, but also way out of their league. Going forward is going to be interesting, because it's the one part of my outline that was fairly nebulous in my mind. I'm pretty happy with the solution I've come up with, thought.


End file.
